


The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA!

by bejammin2000



Category: The Tick - All Media Types, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, America is really weird, Bakugo is surprisingly self aware, Dorks in Love, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Gen, Humor, Immature humour, Izuku dies a little on the inside, Mineta is kinda important, The Mare and the Moon, This really isnt crack, Vigilante Midoriya Izuku, crossposted everywhere!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-01
Updated: 2019-04-25
Packaged: 2019-05-31 19:13:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 94
Words: 227,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15126086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bejammin2000/pseuds/bejammin2000
Summary: The Call not only knows where Izuku Midoriya Lives, it is willing to send the Tick to Call in a Carry Out Order for a Sandwich Platter of Justice. Now Izuku is on the path to become a hero just like All Might. Except for the minor legal technicality of being a wanted vigilante.Hey, we're now onTV Tropes





	1. Issue 1

**Author's Note:**

> Against my better judgement, we now have a discord!
> 
> https://discord.gg/wQaN4j2

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue #1

_When I was four years old, I thought my life was over. Everyone else in my class had developed their quirks, but not me. My mother, kind soul that she is, took me to a specialist, to see why I hadn't developed my quirk just yet. I still remember his words 'Sorry, kid. Ain't happenin'.' I was one of those few people in this world of quirks that was... quirkless. 1 out of every 5 people. Of course, finding out that placed me among some one hundred and forty million people did nothing for my broken heart._

_But my dad coming home from work overseas? To check in on his little guy? That was... that wasn't so bad. Until a few days later and my life really was over. We were at the park when a villain attack happened. My dad, he... he didn't make it. And there was nothing I could do about it! Even when the villain came up to me, all smiles and laughter. 'Hey, what's that behind yer ear? Oh, wait. It's nothin'! Just like you!' The doctors called it Post Traumatic Stress Disorder with Depressed Anxiety. Which is a special way of saying that I was blaming myself for not having a quirk that could save my dad._

_Eight years of therapy, special schools, and so many many many drugs and I was... not better, but I was well. I was no longer considered a danger to myself. I still took one day at a time, but I was cleared to go to a regular middle school. Meeting kids my own age, kids that weren't broken. You could imagine my excitement to find that the same middle school was the same that my best friend from childhood, Katsuki Bakugo went to this school. And you could imagine how my heart fell when he turned out to be the school's bully. And the first thing, after 8 years of being apart... he calls me worthless, useless, nothing. I heard that in my own head enough times. I didn't need to hear it from him._

_It was after that first, grueling week, though... that my life changed._

Izuku Midoriya was passed out on his bed. The mental, physical, and mental exhaustion of the week had taken his toll and he was out like a light. To think that his best friend since... forever, turned into a monster. It was enough to make him weep if he had any tears left to cry. A conceit from his mother was a cellphone. If he ever felt like he wanted to go home or needed to talk, she was only a number away. Or if he was ever in danger, to call for help. Or needed to contact his therapist.

It was not supposed to receive phone calls, and yet here it was. Ringing loud enough to wake the boy, half asleep he picked it up, wincing as the light burned his eyes and looked who was calling.

"What? Unknown number...?" In his daze, he answered the phone. "H-hello?"

'I have a collect call for Izuku Midoriya! It's HEROISM, son! Do you accept the charges!?' The voice on the side of the call excitedly stated.

"W-what?" Was this real life? Was he getting pranked?

'C'mon, kid... get outta bed and meet me outside! This town has a mighty need for JUSTICE!'

"I don't know who you are, and don't call me again." He promptly hung up his cell phone and fell back to sleep.

Outside, at a street corner, at a payphone, a tall man in a bright blue costume hung up the phone.

"Literally hung up on his literal call to heroism... literally." He clicked his tongue a few times. "Plan B it is!"

Not ten minutes later, as Izuku Midoriya finally reached the deep slumber he needed... only to be awoken again with a start as icy cold water was splashed upon.

"No need to thank me, old chum!" And standing there, at the foot of his bed... was a seven foot tall man in a blue suit. The same voice that called him on his cellphone.

"I... am the Tick. I have the fine tuned reflexes of an Olympic level jungle cat. The strength of 15 or maybe 20 men. Imagine that, a crowded bus stop of men. But my most important power... is that when Destiny talks, she talks to me and I listen." He let his words sink in. There was a super hero in his room talking to him. "She says Hi, by the way."

Wait, what? "Wait, what? What are you talking about?" Not as dazed but still just as confused, the soaking wet boy looked at the man that woke him.

"Izuku, my boy, Destiny has sent me here to this Land of the Rising Sun. And Destiny had decided to make you my guide! Come, friend, there is a storm of evil and villainy brewing, and only we, the Weathermen of Justice, can forecast it!" He suddenly leaned in too too close. "Look at that, a regular three pound universe between those ears. With your smarts and my everything else, we'll go far!"

_And that was how I met the Tick. At first, I fought every step of the way. I thought I was going crazy, insane, that I finally broke again. 'Ha! You're not going crazy, you're going sane in a crazy world!' The Tick... was... unusual, his approach to heroics was off the wall, but the fact was, he was Nigh Invulnerable. I still remember that first night... staring at the Yakuza safe house._

"Wait, wait, wait! You can't just go in there... look at that! There's like 12 guys standing out there." Izuku pointed out to his kidnapper. He was being... hysterical? He wasn't sure what to call it, but he needed to use logic on this... person.

"Really? Neat. A baker's dozen of wickedness, ready to satisfy the hunger of the righteous!" This was not working.

"If you go after them now, the boss isn't here, right? So he'll just have 24 guys here and whatever they're doing will still continue." There was a moment, as the blue man stopped, and pondered.

"Hmmm... so, my young friend, you counsel... finesse. Hmmm, finesse." He thought about it, and thought about it some more, as Izuku held his breath.

"I've thought about it and... oh, look... a limo!" And like he said, a limo did show up and out of it looked like... well, Izuku didn't watch many gangster movies, but that did look like a Yakuza boss. "Excellent! And so with a mighty cry of justice on his lips, the hero makes the first move!" And Izuku watched in HORROR as the Tick leapt towards the safe house, shouting, of all things, spoon!

_All of the sudden, watching the Tick work, I was 4 years old again, watching that same video of All Might saving all those people. Gun fire. Quirk. Weapons. Everything bounced off of him and laughed the entire time. He was as beyond those gangsters as a person is beyond an ant. He left them tied up in re-bar. He asked me to call the police, as he made sure all the drugs and weapons were out and open for them. 'A hero's work is never done, old chum! Let's see what else this night has to offer!'_

_And so it happened. The next night and the night after that. I went out with the Tick, helped him figure out a tactic and approach, or at least told him about what I could deduce of a villain's quirk. The Tick's tactics seemed to boil down to punch it now, punch it later, and punch it some more after your done. It... worked. And the speeches, the speeches that didn't make much sense, but inspiring all the same.'Fighting evil and villainy is a basic ham and cheese sandwich! Once you start piling on watercress and avocado and low fat veganaise, you take away from the core truth of the sandwich! JUSTICE!'_

_Two weeks into this... glorious madness, my choice was made for me. If I was to be a partner to the Tick... if I was to keep up with him... if I was to be a Vigilante, then I needed a costume. I needed a name. I needed so much more then what I had. There were no options open to me, the Tick certainly wasn't capable of creating a super suit for me, he couldn't even tell me where his costume came from or whether it was a costume. 'Am I never naked... or am I always naked...?' That was... an odd conversation._

_But Destiny, as the Tick said, had worked her powerful hand to make my bed of the future. It always sounds cooler when he says it, but long story short, one weekend of patrolling left us on a train headed out of Mustafu. Other then having to deal with other villains and having to get back home before my mom was too worried, I did meet with one Mei Hatsume. An... interesting girl to say the least and after the two of us helped rescue her parents... was more then happy to at least set me up with a pair of spring heeled shoes so I could keep up with the Tick._

"Is it weird that we're taking the train back home?" Izuku Midoriya asked, sitting next to the Tick. The train car wasn't empty, this was of course, Japan, but it was early early early morning and honestly, everyone was avoiding the two of them.

"What? Nonsense! Trains are the lifeblood of a nation! Bringing people and goods from one end to the other! We sit in one of the red blood cells of this great nation!" Everyone was looking at them, causing Izuku to sink further in his sleep, his brand new pair of shoes in his lap.

"And besides, you made a new friend! If you're to continue on this path of heroism, someone both brilliant and eccentric to provide your gear will be exactly what you need!" He looked over Izuku. "Because lets be honest, my young charge, your might is located in that three pound universe behind your eyes and in your heroic heart!"

"I know that, Tick. It's not the powers that make the hero, it's the hero that makes the powers! It's just... I've been thinking... do you think I could go to a hero school? UA is the top school in the country and I live in the same city." He looked up at his... mentor? His hero!

"PFFFFT! Hero school? Of course not! Why do you need to go to school to be a hero? You think I went to some fancy shmancy super power prep school? Nah, you don't need that. You got the best teacher one could ever ask for! Lived experience!" He ignored everyone staring at us still.

"Besides, we still have to talk about your hero costume and name, chum! I'm thinking Aphid! It's thematic, and like an aphid, you're green and suck." The tick crossed his arms and nodded once.

"I... I... suck?" Izuku could feel the tears coming. That was the worst thing he was ever told by the Tick. It was right up there with worthless and useless.

"Absolutely, my boy! You suck up all the bad and deliver the sweet, sweet nectar of JUSTICE!"

_And so I became Aphid. The Vigilante Partner to the Tick. We were the crew at the Hero Cafe, serving up double sized portions of Righteousness! I kept in touch with Hatsume, and she sent me a few more gadgets to compliment my shoes. A hooded sweatshirt made out of bullet resistant cloth, a pair of gloves with a taser function. Even a mask that would totally deflect a baseball bat. 'Just don't make it a habit of getting hit in the face, and you'll be fine.'_

_Little did I know where this vigilante life was going to lead when not two months later, we ran into our first Professional Hero..._


	2. Issue 2

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue #2  
  
_It was an interesting two months. The Tick... may not have been the best teacher, but I was most certainly an apt pupil. Hatsume's babies, as she called them, were serving me fine and letting me keep up with the Tick. The worst thing that happened in that time was when we ran into another group of Vigilantes, including the renowned Knuckleduster. I had to pull Tick away before the two of them sent themselves into a never ending loop of heroic speeches. But our first encounter with a professional hero...?_  
  
"He stands, like some sort of pagan god, staring out over a city... a nation he has come to know and love... that he is sworn to protect!" The Tick stood on the rooftop, one foot on the very ledge of the building, looking for all purposes like a great statue as he waxed soliquoy.  
  
"I don't know Tick, I don't think you do the brooding angst driven hero very well." Izuku was leaning against a chimney, fiddling with his phone. His partner looked over to him.  
  
"What!? That was some great stuff, though!" His young ward held up a hand, still fiddling with is phone, and wobbled it. "Hmmph!" The Tick folded his arms, continuing to stare out over the city when his antennae twitched.  
  
"Aphid... I have this feeling we shall run into the long arm of the law tonight..." That caused Izuku to look up from his phone.  
  
"What? We've been at this for two months and haven't seen a pro hero. Other then Knuckleduster and his two partners, we haven't met another hero. It's like everyone would rather operate during the day time."  
  
"I know, right? It's been the second most disappointing thing about Japan so far!" Second most dis... the hell he talking about this time?  
  
"What are you talking about? Only the second?" This was more interesting then the police scanner app that Mei hooked him up with.  
  
"Ninjas, man! NINJAS! I've been wanting to fight ninjas ever since I got here! THREE MONTHS and I haven't seen a single ninja! How could Hollywood lie to like this?" Really... that's... that's what he was complaining about? Ninja?  
  
"We don't have anything like that any more!" The sheer shocked gasp that came from the hero was at the same time disheartening and comical.  
  
"What? Nonsense! Ninjas are as Japanese as Cowboys are American! Everyone still has those things! The Russians still wave the Hammer and Sickle! The Germans are still efficient! The Swiss still make cheese! The national past time of France is beheading royalty, Aphid! ROYALTY! And have you seen the average British smile!?" He was working himself up into a tizzy, took a deep breath, and calmed himself.  
  
"Apologies, my young friend. Perhaps, one day, I shall tell you of the Night of the Million Zillion Ninjas! But for now... any hits on the ol' radar?" He was looming over the green clad sidekick, trying to catch a glimpse of the same scanner app that Izuku was fooling with.  
  
"Not really, it's been pretty quiet all night. Maybe we should just call it early...?"  
  
"NEVER! Crime never sleeps, pal, and never does JUSTICE!" And that... was when everything went to hell.  
  
"And here I thought I was seeing things, but there it is... the blue vigilante everyone's been talking about." The third voice belonged to someone that stepped out of the shadows. A scruffy looking man with a scarf and strange metal goggles.  
  
"EGADS, APHID! Brace yourself, a NINJA APPEARS!" Izuku had to act fast. He knew exactly who that was. During his long years of recovery, the one of the few things he found joy in... was heroes. He got between the two of the, holding his arms out.  
  
"Wait, wait, wait! Tick, you can't fight him! He's Eraserhead, the Erasure Hero! He's a pro!" The hood of his sweatshirt was still down, but he still had his mask on.  
  
"Hn. You know your stuff kid, but you also know that being public quirk use is illegal. As well as being an unregistered vigilante." Eraserhead was all business. His first meeting with a hero and it was going to get him arrested. Their was a loud noise behind him and he saw the Tick with the chimney on his shoulder.  
  
"Even better! Another hero! Stand aside, Aphid! I'm going to throw this chimney at him!" Both Izuku and... out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw shock on the face of the pro hero.  
  
"What? You can't do that!" He had to diffuse this, and quick.  
  
"Awww, Aphid. So young, so naive. I remember when I was your age, just a little tickling before I supped on the life blood of RIGHTEOUSNESS! Anyway, it's common knowledge that whenever two heroes meet, the two must fight before reconciling their differences! And I am nothing, if not traditional! NOW! Prepare yourself, Pencil Cap! You face the mighty might of the TICK!" None of that made any sense. This was real life, not a comic book! But he did duck as the chimney went flying!  
  
The pro hero, as befitting his status as a pro, managed to dodge the flying brickwork and sent the scarf of his flying, managed to tangle the Tick's arms together.  
  
"Don't bother, my scarf is made out of the same material as capture tape! It's unbreakable!" At this statement from the pro hero, the Tick grinned and Izuku put his face in his hands.  
  
"You really shouldn't have done that, you really really really shouldn't have done that." The pro hero gave the vigilante side kick a small look.  
  
"What are you talking about...?" And that was when the Tick leapt of him and across the next block, shouting his battle cry of SPOOOOOOOON! Izuku quickly spelled it out.  
  
"You... are attached to him as he is to you. Enjoy the flight." And just like that, the Erasure Hero went flying off in the same direction, a strangled yelp coming from him. Izuku for his part, hopped up on the ledge and clicked his heels together, launching him into the air after the vigilante and the pro.  
  
"And in the great war against wickedness, two great titans of justice must duke it out! Truly, the only way for the Butterfly of Friendship to come about, a caterpillar must endure the Cocoon of Adversity!" He landed on the next roof, skidding across the gravel top as the scarf went slack and unraveled from his arms.  
  
"Will you shut up!" As for the pro hero, this was all beyond what they taught him at school and what he thought was possible. His quirk should have nullified the blue vigilante's super strength, but it was possible that his suit may have had quirk nullification abilities of it's own. Or perhaps it was where this strength was coming from in the first place!  
  
And some how... the blue brute got his hands on Eraserhead. "Just think about it friend, someday, in the future, we'll be beating up ninja zombies and crack wise about our first encounter! It's going to be glorious!" He pulled him in what could be called a tight side hug and he was sure that he felt a rib crack. That was when the kid that was with this idiot came leaping in, Eraserhead could see the springs installed on his shoes that allowed him to jump from rooftop to rooftop.  
  
"Tick! Tick! You got to stop fighting Eraserhead!" The kid cried out! Izuku was still trying to end this insanity!  
  
"What? Why? I'm only using kid gloves. See, I'm just gonna give him boop on the snoot! Just a little one! Boop!" And he just barely bopped the pro hero in the nose with a single knuckle.  
  
"Grrrhk!" As expected, even such a soft tap for the Wild Blue Yonder was more then the pro hero's nose could take, breaking messily. Izuku winced... he knew what the Tick was capable of doing and even playing around, he could be... something else.  
  
And then the Tick casually tossed the pro hero over his shoulder. "I have to say, Aphid, the dispensers of Japanese Justice seem to be lacking compared to the likes of my formidable friend, Paul the Samurai." He approached the pro hero, who was currently on his back, who was currently running a tally of the injuries he could feel. Broken nose. Dislocated shoulder. Several cracked ribs. Too many bruises, lacerations, and contusions to count. And now the kid and the giant were standing over him.  
  
"Tick, we need to take him down to the street and call an ambulance." The kid was already on his phone, probably calling emergency services.  
  
"Hmmm... I guess we do, yes. There's no shame in losing to a fellow hero, my new friend! The roots of your tree of justice runs deep and you successfully weathered the storm of friendship with the Tick! I look forward to meeting up with you again!" And before he knew it, he was placed on a bench, and the two vigilantes escaped.  
  
_I had to talk with the Tick after that. We couldn't go beating up every hero we came across. He tried to convince me that this was a thing that happened. Tradition and all that. On the other hand, what he did admit that perhaps he was being a bit rough. Not everyone was Nigh Invulnerable. It felt like a great victory to get him to understand that._  
  
**MEAAAANWHILE...!**  
  
Outside a hospital room, the Number One and Number Two professional heroes were looking over one of their comrades in arms. Shouta Aizawa, Eraserhead had been attacked by a vigilante. He'll recover, but he'll be bed laden for the next couple weeks. So many cuts, so many bruises. 4 cracked ribs. His arm was dislocated at the shoulder and the forearm broken. And not to forget, his nose was shattered.  
  
Thankfully, Recovery Girl was capable of fixing the worst of his broken bones, but... everyone was on edge.  
  
"Yo! Endeavor! All Might! We got the footage from the cam in his goggles. We might figure out who the hell attacked him!" That was Present Mic, and was Aizawa's best friend, or at least claimed he was, and he wanted to know just what the hell happened. A room at the hospital was set aside for them to view the footage.  
  
Present Mic, All Might, Endeavor. Along with Midnight and Ectoplasm were in the room, watching the footage. The first thing that popped up was the kid that they saw with the blue vigilante.  
  
"Hnnn, I heard about this guy. Runs around in Mustafu doing the typical hero thing. Beats up criminals, challenges super villains, rescues kittens from trees. And likes to give speeches. All the time." Present Mic looked over the footage. "The kid, though. Looks like he picked up a side kick. Think the hair's dyed?"  
  
"In this world of quirks? You really think it's possible that it may not be a side effect of the child's quirk? Besides, obviously, he's meant to have his hood up. He's distracted by some game on his phone." Endeavor crossed his arms as the two on video reacted to Eraserhead's arrival.  
  
"A ninja? If your only experience with ninjas was bad anime and movies, then yeah, I guess Aizawa looks a little bit like a ninja." Midnight spoke up before they watched as the blue man pulled up the chimney like he said he would.  
  
"That has to way 800 pounds, and he's carrying it like I would a bag of flour. More importantly, why isn't Aizawa's quirk working on the brute?" Ectoplasm was only saying what they were all thinking. They watched as the footage proceeded, as the man spoke about how traditional this was and the cocoon of adversity and the butterfly of friendship. The noise of Eraserhead's nose breaking was enough to make everyone wince, as the camera picked that up loud and clear.  
  
"Such a casual use of his strength. Even a soft tap has the power behind it to break bones. It's obvious. We have a dangerously unstable lunatic running around in Mustafu, who appears to have kidnapped a child! I will take it upon myself to bring this monster in!" Endeavor spoke up, looking over to All might. "There's no need to bring in the Symbol of Peace for such riff raff." He started to head towards the exit of the room. "Give Aizawa my regards."  
  
**< \---- TO BE CONTINUED!**


	3. Issue 3

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue #3  
  
_The biggest problem with being the Tick's partner, he never used the term sidekick, is that it was handling the world's most destructive manchild. He wanted to do good and if he could, he would do 24/7 and I can appreciate a pure heroism like that. But sometimes... he got a little too excited..._  
  
As soon as Izuku Midoriya was finished with school for the day, he knew exactly what he needed to do. First, avoid Katsuki and his peons, run into the bathroom, slip out of his uniform and into his costume. He had to get to the Tatooin Market Place, because honestly? This was pretty much insane.  
  
He saw it this morning. A little advertisement in a newspaper. Full page advertisement featuring a picture of the Tick. 'I... am the Tick!' It had read in great big bold letters. A bold statement for a bold vigilante. There was a box under it. 'Attention all Boasters, Braggarts, Big-Talkers, Big-Timers, Lip-Flappers, Blackguards, Blatherskites, Gascons, Scoundrels, Villains, Knaves, Jaw-Jackers, Tall-Talkers, and Gas-Bags! Come down to the Tatooin Markplace, today only! For between 730pm and midnight, I will be more then happy to beat you up! I am the TICK!'  
  
It was one thing to shout incessantly into the Ether for a villain to attack them, another to track them down to their lair. But this? An open invitation? He could be arrested! And Izuku was sure that they wouldn't throw him in just any jail, they'd send him to Tartarus! It's the only place he could be held at!  
  
Arriving at the Marketplace found that the Tick was enjoying a parfait as a news crew proceeded to set up cameras and lights.  
  
"Tick! What do you think your doing? Of all the things that you could do, this is the absolute... worst idea you ever had! You could get arrested!" Izuku was... he wasn't upset, just disappointed.  
  
"What? C'mon, friend, I took measures to only invite bad guys. That way we don't have the same mix up that we did last week." He took another spoonful of the parfait. "Mmm... this is absolutely delicious! It's both a dessert and it's fruit! You want one?" Izuku put his face in his hands and took a deep breath. Normally he was fully capable of handling the Tick's maniacal form of pure heroism, but this was too much.  
  
"And the news crew? What are they doing here?" The Tick finally finished his parfait.  
  
"Oh, yeah. I invited them. See, I was thinking about this Mighty Man you talk about. His whole symbol of peace deal, so I was inspired! So I hired a news crew to televise my brawl against badness! Besides, maybe they'll be too intimidated by my clever advertisement!"  
  
Izuku slumped in his chair, but he did have a parfait. At least the Tick was right about it being delicious. And... perhaps he was right about no one coming. It was 9 o'clock at night and no one had shown up. The news crew were bored, the Tick was still standing in the middle of the marketplace, ready to fight, and Izuku was fiddling on his phone. The Tick's advertisement did make the rounds on social media, but it seemed like most people thought of it as a gag.  
  
"Well, well, well. If only all my cases were as easily solved as this one!" And that's when Izuku saw him. Endeavor. The #2 Ranked Hero! He was all fire and intimidation and... he was probably here to arrest the Tick!  
  
"Huzzah! My archnemesis! Captain Flamebeard! You sure took your sweet time getting here!" The Tick cracked his neck and knuckles. "But the good people of Tatooin Marketplace will sleep well, knowing that your crime wave has crashed upon the shores of JUSTICE!" Izuku felt his heart jump up into his throat with every sentence that the Tick said to Endeavor, watching as the hero grimaced more and more.  
  
"Wait, wait, wait! Tick! You got it all wrong, this... he isn't a villain! This is Endeavor, the #2 hero!" Izuku got in between the two of them. Surely the second greatest hero would be more easily swayed by words... surely!  
  
"Really? He's a hero, but he looks so menacing and intimidating. He's not even smiling! What's a hero that can't smile? Now, move aside, Aphid!" Izuku could only watch, dumbfounded as the Tick and Endeavor charged each other.  
  
The news crew? They were loving this! What turned out to probably have been a bust was probably going to get someone an award. The #2 Hero, Endeavor, vs the mad vigilante of Mustafu!  
  
For Izuku... this was a nightmare! This was worse then fighting Eraserhead. He thought for sure if it got back to them they could just explain the misunderstanding. That the Tick's American... they do things differently there! But no, the Tick put his open invitation and it seemed like Endeavor was on the case and now they were fighting!  
  
The Flame Hero was surprisingly durable. At least more then Ereaserhead, as befitting his status as the #2 Hero, taking the ridiculously exaggerated blows of the Tick in stride. The stride being that he was able to right himself when he landed. There was a snarl on his face as the Hellflame quirk seemed to do absolutely nothing to the Night Invulnerable vigilante.  
  
Of the two, Endeavor was the far superior combatant, but who needed technique and strategy when you were that strong and that invincible? He growled as the Tick slapped another Hellflame Spear into the stratosphere, laughing the entire time. And Endeavor wanted nothing more then to burn his face off, following up with another blast of hellfire, melting the concrete... and doing nothing more then splashing against the big blue idiot.  
  
"Wow, anyone else smell bacon?" The smile on his face reminding Endeavor of All Might too much for his liking! He roared in anger and in fury and let out a flurry of his spears in all directions! Surely a saturation will take down the Tick!  
  
As for Izuku Midoriya, everything slowed down to a crawl, his legs running on his own. One of the spears was headed to the News Caster, broadcasting the whole fight. A click... a hiss! And Mei Hatsume's first gift to him engaged. He could be fast enough. He do this!  
  
He was only off by a few degrees. Instead of tackling the reporter, he took the blast for her instead. Izuku Midoriya was not nigh invulnerable like his partner, and a perfect circle was burned through his costume.  
  
"Holy shit, he's just a kid!" The reporter cried out, as her producer checked on the boy. "I think he's going into shock, stabilize his head! I'm calling emergency services!"  
  
The camera man, for his part, kept rolling!  
  
The Tick for his part, was still laughing! Still unhurt. "My, this is the most fun I've had since coming here, what do you think, Aphid?" Turning his head, he saw Izuku's motionless body, as the reporter and producer try to keep him stable. The mirth and joy drained from the Tick's face and the first time in a long while... he frowned, before mechanically turning to face Endeavor, the flame hero recovering from his out burst.  
  
He looked up just in time to dodge the punch that came at him. Straight. Hard. And very very very stiff. The front of the building behind shattered from the mere force of the blow despite the distance between it and the vigilante's fist; and it was enough to kick Endeavor into the air. Before he could even right himself, he felt the weight on his ankle. The Tick had jumped up, grabbed him to just throw him back down to the ground with enough force to crater the pavement, and unconsciousness soon enveloped the #2 Hero.  
  
Izuku came too with a sharp breath followed by coughing, surrounded by the news crew, mask still on. Everything felt like it was burning, but he wasn't burned. Looked like Mei's sweatshirt was more durable then she though, able to take the brunt of one of Endeavor's hellflame spears.  
  
"You okay, kid?" That was the news producer with the crew. "You gave us all a scare there when you jumped in front of that spear." He remembered that. That involuntary reaction, letting out a deep breath he didn't realize he was holding.  
  
"The Tick? Where's the Tick?" And almost to answer him, the Wild Blue Yonder himself was beside him, and soon carrying the 14 year old in his arms.  
  
"This was a bad idea and we're going home." There was no declaration of victory. No insane speech about heroism... just a very somber man carrying his young friend back to his home.  
  
"I'm so sorry, Izuku. It's not supposed to be this way." The Tick sounded so mournful, so morose... so... not the Tick.  
  
"Tick... it's alright. Heroes... heroes get hurt. And I wasn't going to let that news reporter take the spear instead..." He groaned slightly. He was still aching. That hit took a lot out of him.  
  
"Are you saying you protected an innocent from that brawl with Captain Flamebeard!? I've never heard of such bravery!" It looked like the Tick was coming back to himself, and Izuku let him smile a bit. "It's one thing to charge into an enemy's attack when your nigh invulnerable, but to do the same and to protect someone else? That's true heroism, boy! I'm... I'm actually proud of you!" He could even see a single tear run down the Tick's mask.  
  
"Thanks, Tick, but... how about we don't do something like that again?"  
  
"Sure, chum. The basis of hero work should be footwork, anyway. Not braggadocio in the newspapers."  
  
_True to his word, the Tick didn't try doing anything like that any more. And thankfully there was not even a scar left over that I had to explain to my mother. I couldn't imagine how she would take me, her little boy, running around with a 7 foot tall superhuman fighting crime as an unregistered vigilante. It would probably be the straw that broke the camel's back for her._  
  
_I checked the social media pages and it seemed that everyone watched the Tick's fight with Endeavor live. People were questioning the recklessness of the pro hero, for deciding not to have the fight somewhere else, but yet others were talking about how unstoppable the Tick seemed. A few conspiracy theories were spreading that perhaps the Tick was just All Might playing at Vigilante to avoid having to go through the rigamarole of professional heroism. 'No one has seen All Might or the Tick in the same room. Eh? Eh?'_  
  
_Endeavor's agency did put out a statement saying that while Endeavor apologized for escalating the fight with the Tick, he did iterate and reiterate that the Tick is a dangerously unstable lunatic with powers beyond that of the average quirk user. 'A danger to himself and others and on the battlefield, you have to make a decision then and there., and then live with the consequences.' He would also be paying for the damages to the Tatooin Marketplace._  
  
_'And for the boy that was with the Tick. Turn yourself in, son. There's no reason to be around that maniac. You have the true heart of a hero. Don't let it be squandered on inane and insane vigilantism."_  
  
_Little was I to know that the Tick's fight with Endeavor would get him national attention. From the press. From the heroes. From super villains._


	4. Issue 4

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue #4  
  
_The weeks after the fight with Endeavor were... interesting to say the least. The Tick was popular. The Tick had merchandise! People were talking about him on the forums. And yet... he didn't care. He didn't do it for the money or the royalties or the fame or the glory. He just wanted to do good to do good.  
  
And of course, after his fight with Endeavor, it seemed that it had spread to every hero in Japan to give the Tick a wide berth. If the #2 Hero couldn't take on the Tick, what did someone outside the top ten hope to accomplish against the Heroic Might of the Tick!  
  
Which is what lead us to our current predicament._  
  
"Alright, that's Death Arms, Kamui Woods, and I think Backdraft, so... let me do the talking, Tick." Izuku had taken to be the go between the Wild Blue Yonder and the rest of heroes in Japan. It kept things like the misunderstanding with Eraserhead and the utter disaster that was the fight with Endeavor.  
  
"Absolutely, chum! I'll meet you at the bottom!" And then the Tick just walked over the building they were on. Of course. Why not? It's not like Izuku's job was already hard enough. He followed after the Tick.  
  
Death Arms and the Tick were staring each other down, Izuku for his part, looked over the crime scene. It was a disaster zone. "What the hell happened here?" It looked like a bomb went off.  
  
None of the heroes said anything, looking at the Vigilantes with... apprehension. Izuku rolled his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Can we not do this? We just want to help, okay? Tick isn't going to hurt anyone. Promise."  
  
With that explanation out of the way, finally Kamui Woods spoke up.  
  
"Someone went on a rampage here. That's been happening a bit more recently. Someone with a weak quirk all of the sudden turns into a monster. We're trying to figure out what's causing it." The wood hero explained. The Tick nodded., scratching his chin.  
  
"I see, I see." He patted Izuku on the back. "Go on, Young Aphid. You know my brain is my Achilles' heel." Izuku took it in stride. He was supposed to be the tactician. And with the latest upgrade to his mask from Mei, he should be able to thoroughly investigate this crime scene. He tapped the side of his mask and the whole world turned a washed out blue, high lighting everything that stood out in a burnt orange.  
  
Nothing really stood out, but then he found a single vial, broken in half on the ground.  
  
"I think I found it!" He pulled a make shift evidence bag out of a pocket, and placed the vial in it.  
  
"Ho ho! You fingered foul fruit, friend! There you go, usin' your thinkin' parts!" With that said, Izuku passed the vial over to Kamui Woods, and that... was that. A couple minutes later, Tick and Izuku were running across the roof tops.  
  
"I don't know, Aphid... I would have really liked to have fought Death Arms. Did you see the way he looked?" Izuku sighed.  
  
"I told you, we can't fight other heroes. Remember Eraserhead? Remember Endeavor? Did you see them back there? They were nervous. They were afraid of you!" Izuku knew this was a conversation that he'd have to have eventually, but he wasn't sure it would stick.  
  
"What's to fear about me? I'm a hero, Aphid! I have two fists of righteousness, ready to pummel the wicked into submission for great JUSTICE!"  
  
"I know that. You know that. The other heroes? They don't know that. To them you're a delusional madman spouting off meandering allegorical koans while you cause massive destruction. And because we're vigilantes, there's no agency or insurance to cover it." He kept up with the Tick.  
  
"Don't worry about it, Tick. Besides, we have the freedom to do what we want, as Vigilantes. We don't champion the law, Tick. We're champions of Justice!" And that was exactly what the Tick wanted to hear, his booming laughter echoing over the city.  
  
_Honestly, it wasn't so bad. Going out with the Tick, night after night. We never fought anything I'd consider a real villain, but even a mugger with a knife was instantly given a colorful name and a full backstory by the Tick. It was... charming. And it was something to look forward too after school.  
  
To say that the Tick wasn't the best of teachers, however, was an understatement. He never showed me how to fight, and honestly I doubt he knew how to himself. The biggest part of his philosophy was Leap before you Look. It made sense, a feel don't think approach to heroism. It also explained why he was a vigilante and not a pro hero. Then again, I had no doubt he was considered a vigilante even in America.  
  
Mei kept sending me further and further upgrades for my gear. Stronger springs, hover function, friction-less sliding. The detective function of my mask. Cycling through the visual spectrum. And making so the majority of my costume was fire proof. Because of course she watched the fight with Endeavor. Oh well, it was to be expected.  
  
But everything changed one day. One day, I told the school counselor that I thought about it and thought about it and thought about it, that I was thinking of applying to UA's General Education department. True, the Tick didn't believe in Hero School, but when I mentioned they had an amazing Gen Ed program, he changed his tune. 'You already have a good foundation for your thinking parts, if UA lets you build it into a mighty fortress of mental fortitude, you have my blessing!'  
  
When it was announced, in class one day, that Katsuki was going to try and go to UA, I wasn't surprised. He had a powerful quirk and if he could just stop being a bully, he'd be a great hero. But if he got the same encouragement from UA that he got from this school, he might just be a villain in making.  
  
He also didn't react very well when he heard that I was shooting for UA as well. It's like he didn't know they had different departments and programs, so really he was being a bastard to be a bastard. Especially after school was over. My Hero Journals were burnt to a crisp and tossed out the window, followed by everything else.  
  
My day could not be any worse. Until I heard that voice in the shadows, as I walked under the pass, about stealing my body to hide from heroes. 16 months. I was the partner to the Tick for 16 months and I was going to end up being killed as myself... until I heard it. 'There's no need to fear! Hope has arrived! For I am here!" All Might. My hero. My favorite hero. Perhaps... I couldn't, but I had too..._  
  
"Alright, kid. You want more autographs? Is this what it's about?" Izuku Midoriya was on a rooftop with All Might and he was so nervous. This was the Number 1 Professional Hero! This was the Hero of Heroes! His Hero, that saved him!  
  
"No, no, no, no, no, no! It's just... I had this really important question to ask." And Izuku talked, mumbled, muttered through his backstory. "When I was four, everyone else was getting their quirks and I wasn't, so my mother took me to a specialist to find out what was happening. And I was quirkless. I had always wanted to be a pro-hero. Just like you, but now... my dreams were over." He swallowed, steadying himself.  
  
"It took a few days, but my dad came back home, to help cheer me up. He took me to Coursan Park..." His voice cracked. "We were there for the massacre! I lost my dad to some insane villain and I couldn't do anything because I didn't have a quirk! Because I was nothing! But I just wanted to know! Could I be a hero, even without a quirk!?"  
  
The blonde hero looked over him. "The Coursan Park massacre... you're the kid from the picture." The picture. Some tourist snapped a photo of Izuku and that blood soaked monster and got awards and fame from it all. Izuku nodded.  
  
"Yes, yes I am." All the while Izuku was thinking to himself that please, let All Might be different. Surely the hero who always smiled was capable of seeing what he needed.  
  
"I'm sorry, son. Without a quirk? The hero life is too danger-" And then All Might went into a coughing fit!  
  
"All Might! What... what's going on!?" Izuku didn't know how to respond. It was like that horrible day so long ago, as smoke... steam? Something surrounded the two and when the wind blew away... was a skeletal, sickly looking man, blood dribbling out of his mouth as he sank down to the roof.  
  
"Shit, I guess I really was out of time." He hacked up a piece of something pink and spongy and rather gross. "Guess you're in on the secret, kid. Just don't go tellin' this to everyone."  
  
"What's... what happened? I... I've seen you before, like this. I didn't know you were All Might, but... you're the secretary that reads off the Press Release from All Might's hero Agency, aren't you? Jeeze, that's... pretty brilliant" There was a chuckle from the pro hero.  
  
"Hnnn. Yeah, mostly because I can't maintain my hero form but for only a few hours each day." He lifted his shirt, and there was this ugly, awful, horrible scar. "Five years, I got this after a fight with a villain. Took a lot out of me. Mostly my stomach and respiratory system. It took dozens of surgeries just to get me like this." Izuku thought about it.  
  
"Five years ago? Are you saying that Toxic Chainsaw did that too you?"  
  
"You really know your stuff, kid. But no, that punk was no where near the level of this guy. And it was under wraps. No one knows about it and I want to keep it that way." He groaned as he stood up. "I'm sorry to hear about what happened to you kid, and you have your hear in the right place, but this life? It's too dangerous. We have to risk our lives, day in and day out. Without a quirk? You wouldn't last. Dreams are nice, but have one that's achievable."  
  
_To hear it from All Might. The one question I wanted to ask him. It was funny. Here I was, for the last year... an actual hero. Fighting criminals and villains. It was just... I thought for sure, all I needed was encouragement from someone other then the Tick. That I could be the hero I needed to be ten years ago. But no, that wasn't going to happen.  
  
And then, an explosion happened, distracting me. There was only one person I knew that could do that. I had to see just what trouble Katsuki got himself in, and what trouble it was. The slime monster that All Might had captured, he must have escaped when I grabbed onto his leg. And no one was able to do anything. They were all waiting for the right quirk. Death Arms couldn't get a grip. Backdraft was worried about the fires. Kamui Woods couldn't do anything because of the fires. And Mount Lady couldn't fit in the alleyway.  
  
I looked at Katsuki... and I looked at his eyes. He was terrified. Frightened. It was how I felt so long ago... and like that fight with Endeavor, I acted without thinking. I leapt, before I looked as I threw my bag at the monster's eyes as I ran forward. Katsuki may be a bastard, but I didn't want him to die! As I scrabbled at the slick slime... All Might appeared, defeating the Villain, but I heard his voice, loud and clear. 'I can really be pathetic sometimes. Here I was, admonishing you when I wouldn't risk my own life!'  
  
With the villain defeated, all the pro heroes were giving Katsuki praise. How powerful his quirk was. How brave he was. When it was his quirk that caused all this damage and anyone who saw him could see the fear. He wasn't happy with me, either. Worthless. Useless. Nothing. I felt my fist tighten, but I calmed myself. A confrontation is what he wanted, and like it or not... I was more a hero then Katsuki was.  
  
And then on my way home... All Might, once more talked with me._  
  
"Young Midoriya, I was wrong earlier. The way you ran to rescue your classmate?"  
  
"I know, I just... my legs were moving on their own." He didn't feel the need to tell them that it wasn't the first time this happened.  
  
"All true heroes, when asked about how they rush off into danger, they always say the same thing. They weren't in control as they ran into the fray. That is the mark of true heroism. And, son, you too can be a hero!"  
  
_That acknowledgement! That was all I needed, but it was more then that. All Might had wanted me as his Successor. His quirk was unlike any other, it could be passed from user to user, getting stronger and stronger with each generation. And he wanted to pass it on to me. But to inherit such power, he presented to me a plan. With the UA entrance exam 10 months away, my body would need to be trained to accept his awesome power._  
  
_I knew all these things about All Might, and yet I wasn't going to tell him my secret. And as for the Tick? I didn't tell him about All Might, either, as I proceeded to burn myself at both ends. Partnered with the Tick. Training with All Might. Going to school. I wasn't just going to be a vigilante, any more. I was going to be a pro hero!_  
  
_If I knew then what I do now? I would have told both All Might and the Tick about what was going on. But as they say, Hindsight is 20/20._


	5. Issue 5 - Double Sized Spectacular!

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue 5 - DOUBLE SIZED SPECTACULAR!  
  
Endeavor had asked the Americans for any and all information they had on the Tick and was... soon regretting it. Two shipping containers were dropped off at his Agency, filled to bursting with files upon files upon files upon files. Interviews with American Heroes and Supervillains. The long and the short of it is that the American policy on the Tick was printed out on a single sheet of paper, in 124 point bold font. **NO GIVE BACKSIES!**  
  
All information on the Tick's quirk was a series of question marks followed by theories. Invulnerability: Very. Super Strength: Yes. It was completely unhelpful and he found himself burning most of the papers through his own anger.  
  
And the interviews! The arrogance of American heroes, with their flippant attitudes on heroism and quirkless wonders! The so called sidekick for the Tick when he was in America, that went by his real name! Arthur and that ridiculous moth costume!  
  
'What? The Tick? He's a great guy. Little excitable, but he has his heart in the right place.' Heart in the right place? What a crock! The Tick was insane, pure and simple. A danger to himself and others. He almost killed Aizawa and made a mockery out of the Number Two hero. That fact that his own son was wearing that horrible, black market t-shirt that proudly stated 'He's not even smiling! What's a hero that can't smile?' With a caricature of Endeavor's face! He would burn all of them! EVERYWHERE!  
  
Further interviews included one Dinosaur Niel who explained that after some accidental ingestion of synthesized dinosaur DNA that caused his gigantification quirk to go overload, it was the Tick that managed to save him with the application of a 120lbs aspirin tablet. 'And if it wasn't for the Tick, I wouldn't have met the love of my life, Dot!' Sugary, syrupy claptrap that didn't belong in official documentation!  
  
The interview with Der Fledermaus wasn't much better. A coward with money and an echolocation quirk that got shown up by the Tick, time and time again. The Crusading Chameleon wasn't much better. A camouflage quirk that couldn't imitate anything with a pattern and caused him to pass out? The Human Bullet, who's quirk allowed him to survive being shot out of a cannon, only to arrive at the scene of disaster right before the Tick solves everything, or more often, have his very own arrival make a bad situation worse?  
  
He was just about insulted by he interview with Paul the Samurai. From his exaggerated accent, to his exaggerated behavior, and his exaggerated telling of the so called Night of a Million Zillion Ninja. Is this truly how the Americans thought the Japanese were like!?  
  
The only one that seemed to have any kind of competency from who knew that Tick was the ridiculously themed American Maid, the World's Most Patriotic Domestic. Quirkless she may have been, but she was incredibly skilled and talented and had a few things to say about the Tick, such as his nigh invulnerability and super human strength. But she spent most of the time correcting the Interviewer who kept confusing her for the superpowered Captain Liberty.  
  
The Last Interview was with the worst mutation style quirk that Endeavor had ever saw. The aptly named Chairface Chippendale. 'The Tick!? The Tick is my worst enemy! My ARCH-NEMESIS! The Tick is a man that ruined my birthday for the pettiest of reasons!' The interviewer responded that Chairface wished to carve his name in the moon, which the villain didn't deny, but stated it was his birthday! He was allowed to do something crazy.  
  
The More Endeavor learned about the Tick, the more questions he had, and the more he felt his anger build!  
  
But most importantly, he decided that he was never going to visit America. Ever. No matter how much All Might said it was a great place to visit.  
  
_Training with All Might wasn't what I thought it was going to be at first. He presented a plan that was supposed to make my body strong enough, hearty enough to be able to accept his quirk, One for All. His American Dream Fitness Plan was so well thought out that I felt bad that I wasn't following it completely. I still went and patrolled with the Tick.  
  
But the main bulk of the plan? Was cleaning up Dagobah Beach and the amount of garbage and trash that was on it. Apparently the various eddies and tides deposited tons and tons of garbage and part of my training would be to spend the next 10 months cleaning a specific section of the beach. It didn't exactly take me 10 months to do it, though._  
  
"EGADS! Young man, you really are full of surprised! You did more then just clean this section of the beach, you cleaned the whole damn thing! And it only took you seven months! You must've been in better shape then I thought!" All Might was shocked an amazed that what he thought was a gangly, string bean of a boy... looks like ten months was an underestimation on his part! As for Izuku Midoriya, the boy was lean and strong.  
  
"Maybe I just have good genes?" Honestly, he wasn't about to tell him that he spent some time as a vigilante running after someone that spent the better part of the night free running and parkouring across the city. All Might didn't have to know that he continued to do that.  
  
"Either way, this is a good thing! That gives you three months to learn how to master the magnificent might of my awesome quirk. I wish I had a speech prepared, but... as my master before me and their master before them, I say onto you!" He reached up to his head and pulled out a single strand of long, blonde hair. "Eat this!"  
  
"... what?"  
  
"To pass One for All to you, you have to ingest some of my DNA." Hence having to eat a strand of his hair. Izuku took the strand, sighed, and ate it.  
  
_I didn't know why I just went and ate the strange of hair. It sounded foolish... it seemed stupid and honestly, it tasted horrible. All Might told me that it would take up to three hours before I could activate it, but he suggested to pick up training the next week. It would also give him a chance to prepare for how to train me. I could have only imagined what he had planned, as it was to prevent me from turning my limbs into hamburger.  
  
I didn't feel any different, even as I fought crime with the Tick. I expected if I had super strength worthy of All Might's, that I'd be slapping around criminals just like the Tick across the roof or down the street or up and over the horizon. That didn't happen. Nor was I capable of across the roofs like the Tick. Though, I did find it was easier to leap over the alley ways, I wasn't using the jump function that Mei installed in my shoes as much as I could have been, but... that could have easily been practice and the fact that I was stronger then I ever was before._  
  
"Alright, young man. One for All, as you are now is an All or Nothing endeavor! You could either hit something with your regular strength, or you can use One for All, and proceed to, among other things, turn your arm into a pile of hamburger helper and obliterate whatever you hit. So we'll start small, and work our way up." All Might told his young mentee. He held out what appeared to be a thick sheet of steel.  
  
"This is A500 steel, the same material used to make side panels of armored cars. I want you to hit this, harder and harder until you force a noticeable dent into it. And we'll call that 1%! But, we're going to build up slowly. Our end goal is that by the time the Entrance rolls around, we'll have you able to use five or maybe ten percent of One for All's power in your leaps and punches, now go! Punch that steel!" Izuku nodded and began to do so. This was not going to be easy, nor was it promised to be so!  
  
_It took the better part of that first month of actually training with One for All for me to develop the 1% use of it. I had to explain away bloody, busted knuckles to my mother. I learned how to wrap my hands up in boxing tape after the first couple of days. It was good to keep my fingers from dislocating. Figuring out how to use that same strength in my legs was a bit more difficult, but quicker to master as I knew what to feel for.  
  
I kept up with my physical training. The more fit I was, the better my body was used to my quirk. And fighting alongside the Tick during our nightly patrols... I was beginning to make use of my new found baseline strength and I may have picked up some basic brawling with my fights with petty criminals. The second and the third months passed much the same. Five percent of One for All was punching through that same piece of steel and once that was successful, figuring out how to get that same feeling of power in my legs. The third month, however..._  
  
A primal scream left the green haired youth's mouth, his fist slamming into the 6x2x2 block of reinforced concrete, shattering it with the force of the blow. His arm was shaking. He felt the pain in his forearm... his elbow... his shoulder. His breathing was heavy, his face drenched with sweat, his arm shaking significantly. 10%, he managed to do it!  
  
"Young man, I'm impressed! You managed to master up to a 10th of the power you control! Unfortunately, it's only going to get harder from here. You've reached the first wall of One for All's power, as from now on the growth of One for All is exponential in power. The difference in eleven percent and ten percent is the different between ten percent and as strong you were a year ago." ... was it that great? A wall like that? Is that even surmountable?  
  
"Sorry, young man, but you're on your own now! With the UA entrance exams coming up in a few days, you'll need to recuperate and recover. How does your arm feel?" Izuku looked at All Might, then looked at his arm... taped half-way down his arm.  
  
"I can feel it in my wrist, my elbow, my shoulder. I can feel it in my hand." He held up his wrapped hand. "I don't think I can do 10% too often." The blonde pro-hero agreed with him.  
  
"Most assuredly. You'll probably end up developing micro-fractures on your phalanges and hairline cracks on your radius and ulna. Young Midoriya, my suggestion is that you refrain from using 10% more then once a day. Trust me, your bones will thank you!" A wide smile, a thumbs up. Everything All Might was supposed to be!  
  
"Now rest up, son! You have an entrance exam tomorrow!"  
  
_If only All Might knew my secret. I felt so bad. Here I was, knowing his deepest darkest secret. Learning from him how to be the greatest hero I could be, how to best use his powers... when at night, I was out fighting crime as an illegal Vigilante. An actual illegal vigilante, now that I had a quirk. Now that I could reliably use 1% of One for All. The Tick for his part never seemed to notice, though._  
  
"Hahahahahaha! This is what I was waiting for! An actual supervillain, with MINIONS! Oh, how I longed to confront, once again, an army of wickedness!" The Tick gave a single flick of his wrist and sent three goons flying. Izuku Midoriya, Aphid, charged with a running punch! With the tiniest application of One for All, it was enough to knock a 12 foot giant of a goon down.  
  
"Egads, my young friend, had I not known better, I'd say I was rubbing off on you! A veritable giant slayer you are! Neat!" He grabbed one of the defeated goons, easily lifted him up. "Now, you soldier of misfortune, tell me where I can find your commander of corruption and we'll be more then happy to leave you and your atrocious allies for the fine forces of the police!" The goon shook his head.  
  
"I can't tell you! None of us can tell you, none of us know!" The goon was more then eager to spill the beans. They were all hired anonymously from various intermediaries who needed people that were willing to raise a little violence for cash. With the goons knocked out and left for the police, the two vigilantes were on the rooftops.  
  
"I'm certain they were moving more of that quirk enhancement drug. Or maybe the chemicals to make it. They had fresh, empty vials but..." Izuku pondered, rubbing his chin as he went into one of his mutter fests. A tap on the back of the head stopped it quick.  
  
"You're thinking too hard, old chum! Time to shift gears, and let the Transmission of Knowledge idle for a bit." Oh yes, encouragement by the Tick was always... strange and different, but stopping for a second, it dawned on the green clad vigilante.  
  
"They never used it and they didn't carry it on them. Either they just moved materials, or they would have known what would happen if they used it!" He snapped his fingers, the conclusion coming to him in a burst of intuition.  
  
"This conspiracy runs deep, friend. Every rock we turn over in our quest for answers leaves us but more questions!" He slapped his fist into his hand, before it dawned on him. "Perhaps at a later time! Don't you have your entrance exam tomorrow, Aphid?" That was right, he did! A quick look at his phone showed that the time was closer to 2 then it was to 1.  
  
"Damn it, I completely forgot! I'll see you later, Tick! Don't have too much fun!" The blue vigilante waved his partner off with a laugh.  
  
"Impossible, my young friend! Absolutely impossible!"  
_  
I never did have the heart to tell him that I was going for the Hero course. He made his opinion known on the matter, thinking in unnecessary, stating that I had the best teacher around. Going out and fighting bad guys and stopping the villianous machinations of criminals most foul. His quote, not mine, of course.  
  
But, the next morning, after too few hours of sleep, hours I was used too, I managed to make it to the Temple of Youthful Heroism of Japan! It was beautiful, gorgeous, and to think that in mere moments after my arrival, I would be standing in it's sacred halls. Or, you know, die after tripping on my own two feet. But thankfully, I met Ochako Uraraka, who saved me from face planting with her Zero Gravity quirk.  
  
To my utter shame, I turned into a stuttering mess, unable to talk to a cute girl that was paying attention to me. This was... something new. Different. I wasn't used to this at all! All I caught at the time was that she too was going for the Hero Course and she wished me luck, as we all gathered into the auditorium. There were so many people! All of them wishes to go into the Hero Course.  
  
The Voice Hero, Present Mic, explained that after the written exam, there would be a practical exam. We'd be placed into fields designed to replicate Urban Blocks and fight robots designated as villains, each robot assigned a point value. 1 through 3, with the three point robots being hardier and more dangerous to the 1 point robots. Simple enough. Until a student stood up and made mention of my muttering, as I tried to figure out the least amount of robots to defeat in the most efficient time. High School was shaping up to be just like Middle School, where I was the weird smart kid that was always mumbling. Mention was made of what they called the Gimmick. A Zero Pointer, to represent an ultra scary villain they had to run away from, hence it's zero points.  
  
The written portion, was easy enough, and then it was into gym clothes and and ready for the practical._  
  
Izuku Midoriya check and rechecked his shoes He felt bad that he was using Mei's invention for the practical exam, but if anyone asked him about, he'd just tell them there didn't appear to be any rule about using superfulous gear or not. Which was somewhat true. He felt a little embarrassed that he despite all the lean muscle he build over the last ten months, he was still scrawny. And people were gossiping about his choice of gym wear. There was nothing wrong with it. It was just one of the many , many pieces of bootleg Tick merchandise, this one being the word JUSTICE between two pieces of bread.  
  
It was then that the boy that called him out during the orientation spoke to him. And honestly, he looked more like a adult then he did a teenager. "You there. The mumbling boy! If you're going to be successful as a hero, you'll have to take this more seriously!"  
  
Take this more seriously? Oh, if this kid only knew how seriously Izuku Midoriya was taking this! He didn't even get a chance to reply, before the blue haired, glasses wearing comparative titan added. "You were muttering in class and look at you, wearing boot leg merchandise for a known vigilante. Have you no pride, man!?"  
  
"What are you talking about? I live in Mustafu. The Tick's done nothing but good for the city. Him and his partner, Aphid. Even petty crime is down as no one wants to face the Wild Blue Yonder." Izuku felt himself being a bit too defensive, but the truth of it was, the Tick was his friend. For a long time, his only friend. And the only one to believe in him, too.  
  
"Be that as it may, the Tick has also hospitalized two different heroes on two different occasions!" Before anything else could happen... before Izuku could get another word in, the practical exam started! 10 minutes to defeat as many villains as possible! For Izuku Midoriya, this was easier said then done, of course. Especially had bad his first one went when some ditzy... not quite Frenchman used his belly beam to kill-steal.  
  
He was about to make reply, when he heard it. It was that digitized voice of the villain stand ins. "NOW DIE!" And the spinning up of the laser gatlings they were armed with! Rounding the corner, Izuku saw one of the other would be hero participants, on his back and about to be blasted!  
  
A burst of speed from 5% of One for All into his legs, followed by 1$ into his fist and he shattered the 1 point villain! "You alright?" He asked to the kid, the blonde with a stripe of black in is hair.  
  
"I'm fine! Thanks, man!" He held up a thumbs up and Izuku continued to go. 1 point, that was a start, that was a good start! He continued through the field, looking for more and more of the villains, but they were starting to dwindle as more and more of the students started to defeat them.  
  
And that was when he saw a ginger haired girl about to get ganged up on by three 1 point villains, as she was distracted by a 3-pointer! He engaged the friction-less mode of his sneakers, skating around and managed to grab the girl just as she finished taking down the 3 point villain with a quirk that appeared to increase the size of her hands, just as the three 1 pointers crashed into each other in the space she occupied only seconds ago.  
  
"Geeze, I didn't even notice them!" She thanked Izuku, who shrugged.  
  
"Just be more careful, miss!" He barely had time to say anything else when they heard Present Mic's announcement.  
  
"FIVE MINUTES EVERYBODY!"  
  
Five minutes had already passed and he only got 1 point, and could maybe argue for 4, maybe. He came across one more 1 pointer, and smashed his way through it. 5 points, 5 points when almost everyone else was having 20 to 35 points. He wasn't going to make it at this point, unless he found a cluster of villains in the next five minutes! A burst of 1% to his legs and he sped around, but only managed to charge next to another participant, and punched a chuck of exploded villain away that would have crushed the short kid with the weird hair.  
  
"Some people need to be more careful with their quirk." Was all Izuku could say. That wasn't a point for him, despite it being a 3 pointer, but no way could he say those points belonged to him.  
  
There was another shout from Present Mic.  
  
"TWO MINUTE WARNING!" 2 minutes already? How much worse could this already get!? And that was when everything stopped. A dooming, damning dread filled the arena, as everyone got a chance to see the 0-Pointer, the Gimmick of the exam. Oh, sure, they say it's supposed to represent a scary thing that junior heroes couldn't defeat, but they don't tell you that it actually is a giant scary thing that junior heroes couldn't defeat! Everyone was running away, everyone was trying to escape, and Izuku was no different, until he heard a cry. It sounded familiar and looking towards the giant Gimmick, he saw her.  
  
Ochako Uraraka was buried under rubble. There was no way he was going to leave her, but there was no way that he could lift such a weight! His use of One for All was quick bursts of power, but... perhaps... All Might said that 10% of One for All was going to be taxing on his arm. And that full power would leave it destroyed. All or Nothing on this one, as he charged towards the robot. Using a piece of rubble as a ramp, is increased speed from Mei's gift, he used her baby to launch himself into the air, pulled back his arm, and at the top of his lungs, he yelled!  
  
**"SMAAAAAAASH!"**  
  
The hit landing was like a bomb going off, as he caved in the Gimmick's head and blasted it apart.  
  
_'Oh, that's just the worst pain...'_ Izuku Midoriya thought to himself, as he looked at his mangled, useless arm. His legs weren't destroyed, but his sneakers? They weren't working ever again. _'Fun, doesn't matter if I survive or not, Mei's going to kill me...'_ And still he plummeted, placing his good arm to at least keep his face from being ruined when...  
  
**SLAP!**  
  
Someone slapped him across the face and he stopped falling.  
  
"What!?" Looking around, he spotted Ochako, she... she saved him once again.  
  
"Sorry, Midoriya!" She touched her two finger tips together and he fell the last foot! He sat up, and looked at his right arm. He really wasn't kidding about a bag of hamburger, as it flapped uselessly in the breeze...  
  
_At the time, I didn't think I had passed and was worried and saddened. Five points. Only five points. You needed 45 to pass the practical exam, and I got... 5. Thankfully, the Youthful Heroine, Recovery Girl, was apparently the school nurse and a quick kiss from her on my arm and it quickly healed up when it was time to head back home._  
  
"Excuse me!" Izuku was about ready to trudge back home, when he saw the giant from earlier, that put him on the spot. "I wish to apologize. My name is Tenya Iida, from Soumei Private Academy..."  
  
"I recognized your uniform." Izuku briefly interrupted.  
  
"Yes, anyway, I saw what you did there. Everyone saw what you did there, but I saw what you did for the blonde boy, the ginger girl, and... child with the weird purple hair. Whatever UA rules for you, I'll let you know that I think you are a true hero!" He offered his hand, to which Izuku accepted.  
  
"Izuku Midoriya... and thanks, Iida. That... means a lot." Perhaps he made another friend, though it didn't matter. The two were in such different circles that it didn't much matter.  
  
_It was the third worst week of my life, waiting for that letter to arrive. Knowing full well that they will tell me that I didn't make the cut for the Heroics class, but... some part of me was hoping that perhaps, perhaps they would let me join in on the General Studies, surely passing the Written Exam would help._  
  
**Meanwhile, at UA Academy...**  
  
Shouta Aizawa, the pro hero Eraserhead was looking diligently through the various captures of the recording devices. He wanted to grab the best of the best for 1-A and having first crack at the surveilance was the way to go about it. He saw many promising students, but there was one that seemed... familiar.  
  
Green hair, lean yet scrawny form, youthful freckles. The way he zipped around battlefield. He only managed to defeat 5 villains, and all 1 pointers at that, but watching the way he moved, they way he seemed to look out more for the other examinees then himself. The only other proof he needed was when he watched the boy run towards his make shift ramp, and leapt at the gimmick.  
  
A few clicks of the mouse, and Aizawa saw exactly what was on his feet, a dark smirk on his lips.  
  
"Gotcha!"  
  
**The Midoriya Residence, 1 Week Later**  
  
"Izuku! Izuku!" The voice of Inko Midoriya echoed through out their small apartment. Izuku for his part, raced towards the front door to see what the matter was and she held up an envelope. "It's here! It's here!" The envelope had on it the crest of UA! This was it! Thank his mother, he took the envelope from her and went into his room. He didn't know about opening it... he didn't know if he could do it, but he did it anyway, feel don't think... leap before you look!  
  
It looked like a coin, and as soon as it stopped wobbling, his room was filled with light!  
  
'I AM HERE!' The voice of All Might filled his room! '... as a projection! Izuku Midoriya! I know what you're thinking, young man, why is All Might in this letter. Well, you should be happy to know that I will be teaching the basics of heroism course at UA this year! And most importantly...' He trailed off and looked to the side. 'What do you mean cut it short? I have to do how many of these things? Bah. Fine. Young Midoriya, in the written exam, you got full marks. Quite the achievement! However, it's not just the written exam that you had to pass. During the practical examination, you received 5 villain points!' Oh, look at that, they did count the three that he caused to crash together. 'Which, unfortunately, is 40 less then needed to pass, but! Hhere's something to think about, watch and behold!'  
  
The projection changed to a video recording. It was Ochako and the other three he managed to help during the examination. They were all in their gym clothes, so this much have been just after the examination.  
  
'Mister Present Mic, sir!' Ochako started, nervously speaking the pro hero. 'We... we were talking and the boy that hurt himself against the Zero pointer, we... if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have made it out of the examination!' Ochako stated. The boy in the blonde hair nodded.  
  
'I would've been gone in the first minute if he hadn't helped me!" The blonde boy stated, nodding.  
  
'He ended up teaching me a valuable lesson about situational awareness when he helped me.' The other girl stated, nodding.  
  
'This little grape would've been juiced if it weren't for him!' the short kid with the weird hair stated. Ochako nodded.  
  
'We want to know if we can give him some of our points.' The pro hero grinned, at the four of them.  
  
'Rare that the switchboard lights up this much, this early! But thank you for calling! I wouldn't worry about your friend, just between you four and me? He's gonna be just fine!' The imagine quickly cut back to All Might.  
  
'The faculty says its been a long time since someone did something like that. But four of them? That's unheard of! But back to your situation of points. With only 5 points, you fail. But that's only if we were counting villains points! And were we? Absolutely not! Hence rescue points!' Rescue points? They didn't mention a thing about rescue points!  
  
'And with four acts of selfless heroism, you earned yourself a whopping 75 rescue points! Making your total... 80!' He could feel the tears well up. He passed. He passed! He didn't just pass, he managed to be number 1! Perhaps... perhaps their was something that the Tick had taught him in these months he had known him. More then feeling rather then thinking. More then leaping before looking... but a sense of selfless heroism that seeks no reward.  
  
'Izuku Midoriya! I'm proud to say, young man, that UA is going to be... your hero academia!"  
  
_I had did it. I got into UA! All my dreams were coming true. There wasn't a thing that was going to stop me, but that first day... that first day started off bad when I saw that I was in the same room as Katsuki Bakugo, who claimed that I had cheated and stole his top spot and that a quirkless useless nobody had no place shitting up UA. On the other hand, Tenya Iida was in my class and congratulated me. So was Ochako Uraraka, who introduced me to Denki Kaminari and Minoru Mineta, two of the others that I managed to help during the exam. I could have only guessed that the other had managed to make it to 1-B._  
  
_But I new that my life had taken a turn for the worse with that first announcement that first morning._  
  
"This is Principal Nedzu and I would like to start off this fine school year with a special announcement. It appears that one of our freshman year students is a bit of a celebrity. You'll know them as the Vigilante called Aphid. Now, as we do respect his or her privacy, we will not be announcing who they are, but we would like them to know that we are well aware that they are attending UA this year. That is all."


	6. Issue 6

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue #6  
  
_That first announcement, everyone stopped chattering about whatever it was they were talking about. The oxygen was sucked out of the room. People couldn't believe it! An actual vigilante in the sacred halls of UA?_  
  
Izuku Midoriya stood shock still as the announcement still echoed. He could hear the other students change their topic of conversation. What was originally about how the year might go and the like, suddenly turned to the very idea that a vigilante had the very gall to apply to UA, make it in, and that the staff knew about it!  
  
The only thing that could make this worse for the young hero in training moon lighting as a vigilante is if something truly off the wall happened. Which is when the giant yellow caterpillar decided to show up... only to be revealed that it was, in fact, their home room teacher.  
  
Shota Aizawa. The Erasure Hero, Eraserhead  
  
Izuku felt is eye twitch, just a tad... just a bit. Imperceptible, before the man spoke.  
  
"It took you all eight seconds to calm down and get to your seats. Already this class isn't looking good." He took a seat at his desk. "Now, you all heard the Principal, we do happen to have a famous Vigilante at the school, and as such, the staff has issue a challenge." He yawned, as if he wasn't used to be up so early in the morning. Or during the day.  
  
"The challenge is simple: You have until end of term to figure out who Aphid is. For the hero course, it's an automatic passing grade, no matter your performance. Support and Business students will be getting a letter of recommendation signed by every pro-hero on staff, which will go a long way in getting into a company. And the General Education? Well, they'll be promoted to the Hero Course."  
  
There was an uproar from the class, excitement from everyone about the prospect of this extra credit work!  
  
"Quiet down, all of you! There's some rules you have to work with. Rule 1: Every student is allowed one, and ONLY one attempt. In this line of work, kids, there are no second chances. Two, you MUST be able to back up your accusation with sufficient evidence. No hero should rely on just being lucky, and if you're to take lead on fighting actual super villains, you'll need to be able to gather evidence, else your just getting him off the streets for a few nights. Consider this to be training for your future. Three, you may work individually or in a group, but each group MUST agree on a single suspect to accuse and their collective answer counts as their one attempt. Four, only the first correct and correctly supported accusation will be accepted, either from an individual or a group. You need to remember that you're competing against the whole Freshman year. Five, incorrect or insufficiently supported accusations will LOSE you one grade level at end of year, again, for the individual or the group. Attacking the wrong person is worse then letting a villain get away, so be certain of your target." Their homeroom teacher had his face in hand and elbow on his desk as he lazily described the challenge for the year.  
  
Automatic passing, all they had to do was figure who the vigilante was, the murmurs filling the room as everyone looked around. Everyone was a suspect! Only Izuku was looking at their teacher, the little twitch in the man's lips that could only be a nasty smirk.  
  
"Naturally, Aphid has an unfair advantage in this challenge, so we've decided that we'll not accept them coming to us and revealing themselves." Everyone turned to face Iida as he slapped is hands onto the desk and stood up.  
  
"But Sensei! That would be absolutely insane! Whoever Aphid is would be admitting to countless acts of flagrant, unlicensed quirk usage!"  
  
"Sit down, Iida. Aphid, as you all know, is the sidekick to the Tick. I'm sure you all have seen... some kind of footage of their many, many, many illegal actions. Let's not assume traits not demonstrated in your target. However, Aphid has a mirror condition. If they can remain undiscovered until the end of term, they will be awarded instead. Unmasking has the same loss in grade as an incorrect accusation. Good luck hunting, but in the mean time, get into your gym uniforms and meet me at Field 8 in 15 minutes, we'll be doing a Quirk Apprehension Test." He waved off protests about orientation, as the students filed out.  
  
Izuku for his part, carefully approached the desk, after the last student left. "Is this about your nose? I feel like this is about your nose." Aizawa lazily looked at Midoriya.  
  
"You mean when that 400 pound gorilla broke my nose in a rib cracking hug, like we were a bunch of bros goofing off at a frat party? Why, Midoriya, that sounds terribly petty and unbecoming of a professional hero. Almost as unbecoming as not taking advantage of a unique situation for a very unique opportunity for practical experience."  
  
"Are we not going to address the fact that the faculty has decided that the best way to deal with me is to paint a target on my back?  
  
"We didn't put a target on your back, you did, Midoriya, when you first stepped out with that maniac. Now get going. Field 8, 10 minutes."  
  
_A quirk apprehension test. I had no idea what it was to entail, but really, it seemed like it was just one of those physical fitness tests we did in middle school... just, we had to use our quirk to do it, this time. And then he told us that the person who came in last place would be declared hopeless and helpless as a hero and expelled from school. I couldn't see how having someone do toe touches and pull ups would tell you about a person who's quirk is the laser in their navel, but I wasn't the teacher.  
  
I don't why I did it... but I had to prove to myself that there had to be a way to use the full force of One for All without it breaking my arm. That there was a way to get over this wall that All Might talked about! I couldn't leave myself with up to a tenth of my power vs destroying a limb. During the softball pitch, I channeled the quirk right into my forefinger and let it fly. It shot like a rocket and I got almost 700 meters. Instead of a mangled arm, it left me with a mangled finger, but keeping my hands taped alleviated the worst of it, but it was still jammed something fierce.  
  
Katsuki, for his part, fumed and cursed and spat. Claiming, one again, that I was a worthless, useless cheater. Even with my injured finger, I felt my fist clench, my jaw tightening from the pain, but before anything could happen, it was time to reveal our rankings in the test._  
  
Everyone stood around, as Aizawa revealed the ranking of each student. Izuku let out a sigh, as he was right in the middle, but number 20... Minoru Mineta, was anything but relieved.  
  
"Whaaaaat!?" he looked around, surely someone else had did worse. Surely! There were tears in his eyes, as he looked to home room teacher. "Please! Sensei! Just give me another chance!" Like a frightened dog he was grasping on Aizawa's leg, his tears soaking the pants leg.  
  
"Sensei!" Izuku stood up. "I know what you said, and I know that Mineta is..." He chose his words carefully. "I know Mineta comes off as a weird looking crybaby, but it's not power that makes a hero, but a hero that makes a power. If he didn't have the heart of a hero beating in his chest, Mineta wouldn't have bothered with the hero course exam!" Everyone was looking at him. He was on the spot! He gulped audibly, but stood his ground.  
  
"Well said, Midoriya. And if Mineta would have let me finished, I was going to say that no one is actually getting expelled. It was just a logical ruse so that you would all do your best." He finally succeeded in shaking Mineta off his leg. "Now then, go have lunch and do what you will with the rest of your day." He dismissed the students. A logical ruse he said.  
  
"Do you really think I'm weird looking?" Izuku was eating lunch with Minoru Mineta, Ochako Uraraka, Tenya Iida, and Denki Kaminari.  
  
"Well, your quirk is certainly... different?" They were lucky that the quirk apprehension tests didn't take all day and that they managed to get last period lunch, deciding to eat outside, still in their gym clothes.  
  
"Eh. Thanks for sticking up for me, though. You're a stand up guy, Midoriya." Izuku waved him off. He was sure someone else would have. They were all there to be heroes, certainly someone would have.  
  
But...  
  
"IZUKU MIDORIYA!" Someone was shouting at him. Someone that wasn't Katsuki, because he wouldn't use his full name like that, and it certainly wasn't his mother and that's when found a busty, pink haired girl with yellow eyes strut right up to her and slap him across his face. "You utter, incompetent moron!" And the other cheek. "How could you!?" She placed her hands on his chest to push him over when she stopped.  
  
"Oh... Oh... OH!" First she slapped him, twice, and now she was poking and proding him. The gym uniform really didn't hide the year long honing of his physique.  
  
"Man... I wish that were me..." Mineta commented, watching as the pinkette fondle Izuku.  
  
"Same." Kaminari held up a fist as Mineta bumped it.  
  
"Miss, I-I really d-d-don't who you are a-a-and this is really making me f-f-feel uncomfortable!" Izuku was blushing like mad and this was worse then trying to talk to Uraraka on the day of the exams!  
  
"... we just talked last week, Izuku! It's me, Mei Hatsume!" Izuku thought about it. The same girl from two years ago. The same girl who was more then happy to give him her babies... the same girl who knew that he was a vigilante.  
  
Apparently puberty had hit her with a vengeance as he didn't reconize her compared to the braces wearing dweeb girl from two years ago.  
  
"Mei!? You got into UA, too!" He was surprised. His first friend in his own age group in a long time was in the same high school.  
  
"Yeah, Support Division! It's great. I have all the tools to make my babies, better then ever!" She wanted to say more, but her phone went off. "Awww, that'd be Power Loader. He probably found what I had printing up and wants me to explain. We should hang out, though, Izuku! It was great to see you again! I'll give you a call tonight." And off she went.  
  
"She was certainly... familiar." Uraraka said, looking over to Izuku. "Something you want to tell us, Midoriya?"  
  
"What? There's nothing to tell! She's just a friend I made in a chatroom! I didn't even know she was going to UA!" He defended himself a little too quickly, looking at his new friends and classmates.  
  
"Dude, you have to each us your mack daddy ways!" Kaminari said, watching Mei walk away.  
  
"Yeah, that chick was an easy 8 and she was all over you!" Mineta agreed. Uraraka frowned.  
  
"Hey, I'm right here, you two!" She said, indignation in her voice was quite obvious.  
  
"Don't worry, Uraraka, you're an easy 8 too!" Mineta assured her, Kaminari nodding.  
  
"Ugh, boys!" She through her hands up. What else was she going to do? But Izuku, already his first day and he could already see a wedge forming between his newfound friends. He had to think, there had to be a way to diffuse this situation before it escalated.  
  
"And here I thought I was seeing things! I thought perhaps you were just enjoying the competitive nature of the apprehension test, but to discover that you were really leering at our female academic comrades!" Iida wasn't happy either and this was starting to escalate as Kaminari and Mineta tried to defend themselves.  
  
"Kaminari, Mineta... you guys are alright, but I have to ask: Did you get into heroics just to pick up women? Get hot dates? Find a celebrity supermodel wife after you rescue her from being kidnapped?" He thought about it, before addressing the two of them. "Either of you familiar with Captain Celebrity?" It was supposed to be a rhetorical question, but of course, Iida answered it.  
  
"An American hero. I heard he's working at some agency in Tokyo, but I've yet to hear why." Izuku nodded, he didn't expected the likes of Tenya Iida to frequent super hero message boards.  
  
"Alright, I may not look it, but I'm a bit of a hero otaku!" He stated, almost a bit too proudly.  
  
"Big shock." Kaminari said, flatly.  
  
"Who would've guessed." Mineta, just as sarcastic. Izuku sighed, but still managed to continue.  
  
"Captain Celebrity is one of the most powerful heroes in America. Spoken of in the same breath as Caped Wonder or the Superian. He's flashy, he's popular, he has fame, wealth, and a beautiful wife. Until one day, the Superian beats seven shades of tar out of him. Puts him in a coma for a month. Superian explains that Captain Celebrity had some... issues. He'd regularly start a patrol after downing a liter of vodka. He was handsy with the women he saved. He was cheating on his wife. And the final straw was when a few female villains came out and said that he'd help get them reduced sentences in exchange for... adult favors." He let that sink in before he continued.  
  
"He wakes up a month later and finds out his wife is divorcing him, he's never going to see his kids again, the hero agency he helped founded washed its hands of him, AEGIS revoked his Hero License, he's lost 90% of his assets in court costs and settlements, and now he's working for an agency as a glorified sidekick trying to sell it as his redemption tour."  
  
"He sounds like a real scumbag." Uraraka said. "Why would they let him in Japan?"  
  
"Because it all happened in America. He sells it as a change of heart to the American press stateside, and in the mean time he gets to build a reputation over here like any other washed up American celebrity. Nefarious." Iida adjusted his glasses, deep in thought.  
  
"So lemme ask you two this: In ten years, do you want to look in the mirror and see a hero that everyone adores for his actions? Or a perverted loser with three restraining orders that has to tell his neighbors that he's on a particular registry?" He finished his lunch, and stood up. "Just think about it. Im going to head home and take advantage of this early day that Aizawa-sensei has given us. See you all later." He waved his friends goodbye, and went back to the locker to change back into his uniform and head home.  
  
He was surprised to find Uraraka waiting for him, wearing her school uniform.  
  
"Hey, Midoriya. About what you said back there to Kaminari and Mineta." He quirked a single green brow.  
  
"What? About some American nobody?"  
  
"No, no, no, no. I guess... what I mean to say is about the way you said it, that was really something." Izuku gave a chuckle.  
  
"It's nothing. When I was younger I had a lot of..." He thought about it. He wasn't going to tell her about the hospital he was at or the therapists he talked too. "Teachers that wouldn't accept monosyllabic answers or anything that came off as being rote. I guess I just learned to talk like that" He shrugged it off, and walked with Uraraka to the train station, the two idly yet excitedly talking about tomorrow, which would include the Basic Heroism course.  
  
_The first day of school was over. I had managed to not get expelled and dismissed from the hero program, which meant it wasn't that bad a day. I also had a target on my back, but that was the life of a hero-slash-vigilante and it was the life I had chosen. I had also made friends, which was even more important, and I found an old friend in the Support Department, I had ideas that Mei might be able to make for me and after some chatting, she may not have understood why I needed a pair of gloves with the fingers reinforced with what was similar to leg braces, but with what I discovered during the apprehension test, they would serve me well._  
  
**Meanwhile...**  
  
"Ah. Aizawa. Tell me, how is our vigilante doing for his first day?" Principal Nedzu had invited the Erasure Hero for tea.  
  
"He did fine enough. The quirk of his is potent, if used the right way, he still has much to learn though. But... there are marks of being a leader there. What he said, about a hero making their power, not the other way around. It's simplistic, but I can get behind it." Aizawa said to the mouse/dog/bear in a smart suit. They clapped their hands together.  
  
"Excellent! Most excellent! It also seems that that the Aphid Hunt is working out grand, encouraging the students to work together and investigate, though I'm worried about one in the Gen Ed department, but no matter." This was actually working out in their favor. With everyone looking for the Aphid, that should keep his appearances down for the most part.  
  
"Though, I did see Midoriya talk with a pair of students that I thought would be trouble down the line. I think he nipped that bud already, but if they value his friendship, I'm sure we'll have nothing to worry about." Nedzu picked up his cup, and saluted Aizawa.  
  
"We can only hope, friend, only hope!"


	7. Issue 7

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue #7  
  
_I should have thanked Aizawa-sensei. Giving us the rest of the day off gave me plenty of time to relax, rest up, and just... prepare. It was good that Mei Hatsume got into UA, and into the Support Course for that matter. She was always there for me when it came to whatever bits and bobs I needed for being a vigilante. True, as expected, she was a little upset about that baby of hers that I ruined in the practical entrance exam, but sh took it as a an opportunity to improve the design.  
  
Of course, I hadn't received them just yet, but with One for All, did I really need them? And honestly, if UA thought their Aphid hunt was going to stop me, they had another thing coming._  
  
"You know, my young friend, there's been a change over you, these last few days..." The Tick was holding a conversation with his young ward, the Aphid, as some goon with jackhammer arms continued to pummel the Night Invulnerable Wild Blue Yonder.  
  
"What do you mean? I'm still me..." Izuku replied. He was using these outings with the Tick as an opportunity to practice with his power. One for All's power was immense, even a finger flick went off with the force of a haymaker, as he had just demonstrated. But it was hell on his fingers.  
  
"You see, it's things like that." He turned to the jackhammer arms, who had was breathing heavily, having been completely ignore this entire time. "I'm talking to the boy. Time out." A tap to the head, and said goon was out like a light.  
  
"What do you mean? You can launch a man into the air with a finger flick. I've seen you do it. You're doing it right now!" True to word, the Tick had just launched a man into the air with but a finger flick.  
  
"That is true, but I am mighty!" He paused for a moment, taking chin in hand, pondering this.  
  
"Errr... you always told me right makes might." It was the lamest excuse he could ever offer.  
  
"Egads! You're right! Look at you, Aphid! Growing into being a super hero! Brings a tear to my eye!" He actually... bought it. "Though, if I didn't know any better. Let me see your hand, lad." With the villains fled or unconscious, Izuku made a noise and took off his gloves. His hands were taped up, but the one finger he used to flick someone with, was certainly worse for wear.  
  
"It's just sprain. I'm still... growing into my own mightiness." He was hoping that the Tick wouldn't carry down too far down this line. But the Wild Blue Yonder got down on one knee, and looked Izuku in the eye.  
  
"Izuku, my young friend, let me give you a piece of advice that I wished someone gave me when I was your age. When lifting the Boulder of Wickedness, high over your head... be sure to use your knees as well as your back! Fighting crime should be a full body endeavor!" He paused, standing back up. "Of course, we give it a few days and you might become nigh invulnerable. That'll work too. Now, c'mon, chum! The night is young, and so are we!"  
  
With that, the Tick took right off, Izuku followed after him, pondering what he was told. Sure, Allegorical koans dripping in bad metaphors, but maybe... maybe he was onto something.  
  
The next two locations were pretty much the same. More goons with low level quirks and guns, more vials of that strange drug. But this time, this time two of them took it it! Izuku was facing what was a minor rhino type quirk... soon turned into a charging, rampaging beast, charging straight for the green clad vigilante!  
  
"I'mma gon' gore yoo, boy!" He was being charged at, the man turned beast picking up speed... the horn iron hard and sharp to the tip!  
  
Feel, don't think. Leap without looking. As the distance closed, as the Tick dealt with the other one, a minor flame quirk turning into a blue blazing inferno! It was just him, he had to rely on himself and the awesome power given to him by All Might. It was instinctive, it was intuitive.  
  
The power of One for All could be used to increase his strength to the point that he was capable of taking down a giant robot with a single punch at full power, though it would destroy his arm. At 10% it was posible that same to destroy a block of reinforced concrete, leap into the air a dozen meters... but the risk to his joints and bones were still there.  
  
He channeled 10% into his arms and into his legs and into his skin. Leaping without looking, feeling without thinking as he brought up his arms and caught the horn! He felt it slip in his grip, even as it tightened. He felt it pierce into him, but he grit his teeth, he set his jaw and...  
  
"NYARGH!" Hauled the wild monster of an animal up and over, and slammed int into the ground! There was only a slight shine of blood... his blood on the horn... his costume with a need perfect hole and a single pin prick. He let out a breath he hadn't known he been holding, as he felt One for All dissipate from his body in smoking wisps. The pain that normally was in the ten percent that he used... wasn't there. Just a distant soreness, like he felt after a good work out.  
  
"Well done, Aphid! Well done!" The Tick for his part, placed his own unconscious foe on top of the rhino. "What a mighty throw, lad!" Izuku gave a thumbs up, even as he slumped down.  
  
"You mind if I sit down for a bit?" He had to catch his breath. That was insane what he just did... and could he do it again?  
  
"Go ahead. We probably need to finish up for the night, as it is. You have school tomorrow. Though, this conspiracy has breadth and depth." He waved his own thoughts off. "Bah, enough about that. How was your first day of school?" Was he really going to ask that? Of course he was, non sequitur were the Tick's bread and butter it seemed.  
  
"It was alright. They actually have heroes teach the hero course, I saw a few of them going to and from class." He really didn't like this whole... double life he was living. All Might not knowing that he was out with the Tick beating up criminals. The Tick not knowing that he was All Might's chosen successor and learning to be a hero. He wanted to look somewhere, to avoid the Tick's eyes at he flat out and boldly lied to one of his mentors, his gaze falling upon one of the upturned cases of this strange, quirk enhancing drug. Looking over at the vials, he saw that their emblems lined up.  
  
Tilting his head, he pulled out his phone. "You know, it must have been right in front of us." he located the pictures. He took pictures of everything. Every vial had a mark of some kind on it and looking at a full set, there were only ten unique marks. "If we stack the marks on the vials, I think we might figure out who is behind this!" A few swipes on his phone and the answer was right before them.  
  
"Egads, my young friend! I recognize that symbol! That's the mark... of the TERROR!" The Tick cried out! The Terror... it couldn't be. It wasn't possible.  
  
"No, it can't be the Terror. He died in battle with Caped Wonder almost 30 years ago. They only found his teeth. And besides that, he'd have to be 135 years old at this point."  
  
"Oh, I know. But the Terror wasn't just a villain of great renown and evil, his villainy spread across the surface of the world like the great tentacles of a kraken. The Terror may be gone, but it is his loyal followers that we would have to worry about, carrying out his will 30 years hence!" Izuku could follow that process. There were plenty of criminals that followed the Terror, and plenty that were still around. A man who's evil stretched back nearly eight decades, was plenty to be afraid of.  
  
"We'll need more then just hearsay, though, Tick. I think beating these guys up is going to have to take a back seat to an actual investigation." He looked over to his partner, who nodded.  
  
"I'll let you take the lead on that, ol' chum. You're the brains of our operation of justice!"  
  
_The Terror. A name that filled everyone who knew it with near existential dread. Terrorist. Villain. Would be conqueror of the world. Who would benefit from using his symbol, even covertly like that? Who would risk the wrath of his loyal underlings, thirty years hence? Was this some last gasp for glory by super villains yearning for better days? Was this a bunch of newbies deciding to ride on the coat tails of the giants who's shoulders they stood upon? Or was this just the fulfillment of a plot started decades ago?_  
  
_I was living two lives and I was being pulled at both ends. I think I would have unraveled if I hadn't been put back together three times already. Between this mystery and UA, I wasn't sure how much longer I could keep it up, before my lies and secrets crushed me under it's weight._  
  
_But I still had that Basics of Heroism course to look forward too. Taught by All Might and it was going to be a special Hero vs Villains urban combat course. 'So get suited and booted, kids! Meet me at Urban Sector B!' As everyone went to grab their costumes, sent in to support companies and the Development team at school. Mine, though? I thought mine was special. My mother, bless her heart sent in one of my old hero drawings, from when I was so so so young and innocent._  
  
_'Good luck, Izuku. And take care of my babies this time! XoXo' A note from Mei with it, I could always expect her to pull through. And she worked fast, too. A different version of my sneakers as Aphid in boot form... the same reinforced taser gloves, with improved finger stability, as I asked. Also spider pads to arrest a fall. 'Because you have a habit of not looking before you leap.' Oh, if only she knew. I don't even care if I looked like an over grown jack rabbit... I had people that cared for me and that... that was a good feeling._  
  
_We were split up into teams by lots. One side would be the villains, the other would be the heroes. The objective? The heroes were to capture the Villains are capture the nuclear bomb (paper mache, of course) that the villains were guarding. The Villains, were to prevent that. 'And don't get any smart ideas and tell me that you're detonating the bomb, villain teams. You're not playing psychos!' All Might added, as teams were drawn against._  
  
Ochako Uraraka  & Izuku Midoriya (Heroes) vs Katsuki Bakugo and Tenya Iida (Villains).  
  
"We have to think about a strategy, Uraraka. They got time to prepare, but... we can use it too." It was just the two of them before the buidling. The others were in the control room. Katsuki and Tenya were in the building, no doubt Katsuki ignoring Tenya's attempts to plan. Ochako nodded.  
  
"How do you think we should proceed?" That was a good question.  
  
'What would the Tick do...' Izuku idly pondered. 'Obviously, he'd shout spoon at the top of his lungs and jump to the roof...' A little more thought and... that was perfect, actually! "That might just work. Uraraka, can you make the both of us weightless? Because if I know Katsuki, the first thing he's going to do is come charging at me, leaving Iida alone."  
  
The girl thought about it, taking into account their weight and nodded. "Yeah, I wouldn't even be sick!"  
  
**"HERO TEAM START!"** With the permission to start, Izuku and Ochako rounded the building. An application of her quirk, and the two were weightless... and a little jump... just barely a 1% leap took them up the side of the building! Izuku was holding onto Ochako with one hand, using the other's spider pads to arrest their ascent as they passed the windows, soon coming to the top and seeing just what they expected.  
  
Tenya Iida, grumbling to himself about the pigheadedness of his partner, running off to fight someone when they had an actually had a stated goal! Izuku turned to his partner and put a finger to the smile of his re-breather and slowly opened the window. One hand on the sill, the other on top of it, he lined his fingers up, felt again the power of One for All enter his fingers, trying his best to regulate the amount he was about to send towards his friend, and flicked at Tenya!  
  
Mei's baby was adequate. The pain was still there, but the hurt wasn't as bad, keeping his finger from breaking from the hurricane of force he had just unleashed, that slammed into Tenya, and then Tenya into the wall. They clambered through the window and both Ochako and Izuku touched the bomb at the same time.  
**  
Meanwhile!**  
  
Katsuki Bakugo felt his anger boiling over. Izuku Midoriya. Fucking Deku. Showing him up in the damn entrance exam. Taking his top spot! Embarrassing him during the quirk apprehension test! To think, two years ago he was actually happy the bastard was coming back. They could be the full Bakusquad again, but then he just had to lock up and push him away. Ignoring him. Avoiding him. Looking away. Sure, he could admit that he was a bit of a bully, but everyone else at that damn school were side characters. The only ones he gave even an inkling of a damn about were his two peons and his best friend. But no, Deku had to go and abandon him, and this time for no god damn good reason!  
  
"Damn it, Deku. When I get my hands on you, I'm finally going to get some answers!" And when did that quirkless moron get like that? He had to be doing something illegal! He had to be cheating!  
  
**"TIME! HERO TEAM WINS! 75 SECONDS! A NEW RECORD!"**  
  
... what? What!? WHAT!?! He was mad with apoplectic fury, foaming at the mouth, screaming with rage!  
  
**In the Control Room!**  
  
"Why aren't they going in?" Denki Kaminari asked, watching as the two on the hero team circled the building.  
  
"Perhaps he knows something we don't." His partner for this exercise, was Kyoka Jiro. The cameras inside showed the argument Tenya and Katsuki had before Katsuki went on his own. The cameras outside saw how quickly Izuku and Ockako scaled the building with their two quirks working in tandem. With Tenya alone and distracted by himself...  
  
"This is already over." Shoto Todoroki stated, flat out. And true to word, it was over, as Tenya was knocked out of commission, the bomb was unguarded, and the hero team was victorious.  
  
**"TIME! HERO TEAM WINS! 75 SECONDS! A NEW RECORD!"** Their teacher yelled into the microphone. And then the whole side of the building exploded outward.  
  
**< \--- To Be Continued**


	8. Issue 8

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA!  
  
**"TIME! HERO TEAM WINS! 75 SECONDS! A NEW RECORD!"** Hearing All Might's voice over the loud speakers, declaring the two of them winners? That was the greatest of glory for Izuku Midoriya.  
  
"We did it! Oh, Midoriya, I could hug you!" And Ochako Uraraka did just that! Izuku blushed, visible through the grin of his mask.  
  
"T-thanks, Uraraka!" And that was went they heard the explosion. "... I think Katsuki just realized he lost." Ochako applied her quirk to Tenya, who was hoisted over on to Izuku's shoulders and they made their way out the way they came in, once again using a combination of their quirks.  
  
They had found, at the base of the building Katsuki Bakugo, cursing and spitting and snarling, their teacher already out, explaining to him why he lost.  
  
"NO! I refuse to accept your call! I NEVER EVEN GOT A CHANCE TO PUNCH DEKU IN HIS SHITTY FUCKING FACE!" He managed to point over to the trio, shouting more and more and more. Ochako noticed something though. She had yet to see Izuku frown, but that was a grimace behind the stylized smile and his free hand tightened into a fist, before he took a deep breath and released it.  
  
"I am sorry, Young Bakugo, but the heroes had their goal and the villains had their own. Instead of planning with your partner, you dismissed him and ran off to do you own thing. Young Midoriya planned around your own impulsiveness and that is why they are victorious." All Might calmly explained. "Don't worry, lad, every loss is a learning opportunity."  
  
Katsuki simmered, took a deep breath, his fists clenching, even as he took in the words of the Number 1 Hero, before whirling and turning to Izuku. "YOU WIN THIS ROUND, DEKU! But all this does is stoke my desire! ONE DAY YOU'LL GET YOURS!" And with that, he stomped off. There was no way that he'd be able to sup on his sweet vengeance, expecially with their teacher there. He needed to find something to explode, to destroy, to eliminate!  
  
"You just gonna let him walk off like that, teach?" Jirou, asked, practically the whole class watching Katsuki leave.  
  
"Young Jirou, you'll learn in time, in some occasions, the winning move is to not play. It is only the second day. Now! The next team will be!"  
  
_The rest of class passed pretty quickly after that. I got to learn, more or less, what everyone could do. What clever tactics people could develop. Not every hero team won and no one had a victory as fast as Uraraka and I did. As for Katsuki... even in front of All Might his disdain was palpable and it took actual effort to not punch him in his snarling face._  
  
The last refuge a high school student. The Cafeteria! And with UA and it's Professional Hero staff, included the Support Hero, Lunch Rush! Izuku Midoriya, so used to spending all of middle school eating his lunch alone, was still finding it surprising how many people were joining him.  
  
"I have to say, Midoriya, that is... some quirk." Tenya had recovered from Izuku's attack by the time their class was over, and a quick trip to Recovery Girl managed to remove both his black eye and goose egg. "Though, it should be expected. With the strength you had in the practical exam, even such a tiny application would be immense!" Izuku shrugged, at the praise.  
  
"Honestly? If you were with anyone other then Katsuki? I probably wouldn't have been able to beat you." While someone would tell Izuku not to doubt himself, he did know what he was capable of doing and they only won through luck and good quirk synchronization.  
  
"Perhaps, but we'll find out next time, I suppose." Tenya nodded, as one more joined them at the table.  
  
"Ugh! Your latest work explodes into a million pieces and all of the sudden you get lectured on by not building bombs. Well I wasn't building a bomb! And then Power Loader didn't like my reply in my defense!" Mei Hatsume, Izuku Midoriya's first friend, school mate, Support Course student, and of course supplier to the Vigilante known only as the Aphid!  
  
"What did you say to him, Mei?" Izuku knew whatever it was, it wasn't something she probably should have said to a professional hero.  
  
"He was telling me that I needed to accept my failures, and I tell him that the Wizard of Menlo Park, Thomas A. Edison, said that he never failed! He only found 10,000 ways that didn't work! I, was just on my 99th way that wouldn't work." She was grousing and she was frowning, Izuku looked to see if those two guys were doing anything, but Kaminari and Mineta seemed like they were behaving.  
  
"I'm sorry to hear that, Mei, but I'm sure that you'll eventually succeed, and prove yourself just a brilliant as the inventors of old!" He idly wondered what she was trying to make, because nothing of hers that he used ever exploded on him. And that was a good thing.  
  
"Thanks, Izuku, you know how to cheer a girl up." She gave him a wink and all of the sudden Izuku realized that Mei Hatsume was still a gorgeous girl that was talking to him, blushing madly as he looked down.  
  
"Err... t-thanks?" What else was he supposed to say? _'Someone change the subject, please!'_ He thought to himself! And someone did.  
  
"So what do we plan on doing for this Aphid Hunt? Every single freshman student is a possible suspect!" Of course Tenya Iida would be the one to ask about that, of course he would. He probably wasn't even concerned with the improved grade, he probably just wanted to hone his investigation skills.  
  
"W... what about it, Iida? Do we really wanna go after some kid like that?" He needed to change the changed subject, but this was very very uncomfortable.  
  
"Absolutely! Aphid is a danger to society! Did you know in the last Heroes Quarterly magazine the Tick and Aphid got an honorable mention for the Top Ten statistics! If this Tick took heroism seriously, he would easily have been the Number 2 Hero in all Japan, but instead he's out there, a vigilante with immense power corrupting a young adult with his law breaking!" He slammed his fist down onto the table. "I come from a long line of heroes. And my brother, Tensei, is the Pro Hero Ingenium! Seeing this flagrant disregard for the rules is nothing short of mad anarchy!" He took a calming breath, composing himself.  
  
"So you think we should group up, try to find who this Aphid is?" Ochako asked. An automatic passing grade did seem... attractive in it's own way.  
  
"I'm in! A way to pass, no matter what, I'll take it!" Kaminari made his enthusiasm known for the whole thing. Mineta agreed.  
  
"Yeah, it'd be like our first case, before we even became heroes, we brought down a Vigilante!" Izuku felt himself sink further down, that target on his back may as well had lights and neon nixie tubes pointing him out! His life couldn't have been any worse. Until it did.  
  
A polite cough behind him, and Izuku looked behind him and it was the Ginger girl from the exam. "Uh... h... hi!" He managed to talk to her during the exam, but why were there all these cute girls around him all of the sudden?  
  
"I'm sorry, I'm Isuka Kendo. I never got a chance to thank you properly from the exam." She bowed politely. "Thank you very much!" Izuku was sweating bullets. This wasn't happening, it couldn't be happening.  
  
"Do-don't mention it!" He gave a thumbs up. "I-in the never ending war o-on crime, all s-soldiers of justice should l-look out for each other." ... oh, did he actually said that? Did he? The Tick was rubbing off on him and he was making his own koans.  
  
"Kendo, do you want to join our group? We're going to go on an Aphid Hunt! The more the merrier!" Kaminari asked the ginger, who put a finger to her chin, before shrugging.  
  
"Sure! A vigilante like that gives professional heroes a bad name!"  
  
"A... a b-bad name?" Izuku was looking from every single one on the table. Itsuka to Tenya to Ochako, seeing them nodding along.  
  
"Mmmm. If every hero just went and did what they wanted, it'd be total anarchy. The law exists for a reason." Iida said, explaining the thinking.  
  
"Alright, you convinced me, I'm in." Izuku turned to Mei so fast, that he thought he got whiplash! "R-really, Mei?"  
  
"You know, Midoriya, it seems like the only person not interested in going on the Aphid Hunt is you..." Mineta commented on, stroking his chin.  
  
"Because I'm at this school to be a hero! Not try and ruin someone's life! Is that so hard to understand? If we unmask Aphid, he'll probably end up being arrested!" Was he being too defensive, he felt like he's being too defensive. Too obvious. They were going to figure it out, he felt the sweat pulling out of his forehead!  
  
"Are you forming a group? Have room for one more?" How many people were going to want to work with him to find out who he was!? And this one was some pale faced kid with purple hair.  
  
"Hitoshi Shinsou. General Education. With 6 members of the Hero Course, I'll most definitely be promoted by the end of the year." He took a seat, next to Mei. Itsuka sitting down as well. "Do we have any suspects in mind, already? Surely you were paying attention to your classmates. I know I was as soon as the announcement for the Aphid Hunt was made. There are a few that I have suspicions on, but I want to know if you know anything?"  
  
"Well, it's quite obvious. I think the first thing we have to do is eliminate anyone with a mutation style quirk that has a severe change in their anatomy. As well as anyone over 170cm. This is what I can tell from various footage and pictures of the Aphid running around with the Tick. They would not be able to hide any... extreme quirk mutation, and they are quite short." Iida was pondering the whole thing, working it out in his head, as a shine fell upon his glasses.  
  
"We don't even know what their quirk is. Everything I've seen of Aphid, he uses high tech gear to do what he can. I saw him take down that one villain with a taser shock from his gloves!" Itsuka added, as the others started to discuss what they knew about the Aphid and which of their classmates fit the description!  
  
"Do we have to talk about this now?" Izuku asked. "I just want to enjoy my lunch, and have the rest of my classes for the day." Desperately desperately changing the subject, as Mei snapped her fingers.  
  
"We could have private chat room. Talk about our investigation! And if we have a shared cloud location, we can store all our evidence and distribute it to team members!" Mei was not helping, why wasn't she helping him! Was a letter of recommendation really that important to her? Wouldn't she get in trouble too? Still, it was agreed, as cell numbers were shared, just as lunch ended. He didn't want too, but he felt he had to confront his friend.  
  
"Mei, can we talk real quick. Just a bit." He didn't know what to say, how to voice how... betrayed he felt.  
  
"I know what you're going to say, Izuku, but hear me out first. Your friends seem to be dead set about finding out about you, and I'd be my babies that they'll be the ones to figure it out, too! The two of us, we can keep the heat off you." She was hugging him. He was being hugged by a cute girl and ... it was actually calming him down.  
  
"Just, next time we meet up like this, have a bit more enthusiasm. You can't be suspicious, or they might figure it's you. And beware that Gen Ed student. He has a lean and hungry look! I think you might be able to convince the rest not to turn you in if they discover you, but that guy looks like he'd do anything to be promoted to the Hero Course." The hug broke, and she slapped him on the shoulder. "Just be more careful, Izuku. I'm rooting for you!"  
  
_Not even the second day and already all my new friends wanted to hunt me down like I was a fox, just released into the forest. Was this the school year I had to look forward too? Looking over my back, making sure that target wasn't blinking at me at all times? I suppose it would have been easier just to hang up my costume, and focused on being a professional, but... who am I kidding? That was never happening._


	9. Issue 9

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA Issue #9  
  
_The Rest of the Day passed by without incident. The gossip in the halls... the gossip in the classrooms. Everyone was discussing about how they were going to find that Aphid, who dared invade these halls. As long as I kept my head down and didn't draw attention to myself, I would've been fine.  
  
But I was a superhero, and what's a hero that didn't do the right thing, anyway?_  
  
Izuku was surprised how fast Mei could work. By the time he got home, he was sent and invite code from his phone and before he knew it, they had a private chatroom set up and a cache for all evidence they could find. And boy, was their a lot of evidence already. Shakey cellphone footage posted to the internet and official news video. Speculative posts from various forums, image boards, and blogs.  
  
Mei was right, they were being thorough. It looked like the lion's share of the information was gathered by Tenya, much as it made him chuckle to see the studious Tenya on various cape boards gathering what he can, but this was serious! This was his life! His new friends... his would be colleagues... called him a lawbreaker, not intentionally, but... it still hurt.  
  
_Dot dweeeeeee dot dot dot dwee-dow! Dot DWEEEEEEE dot dot dot dwee-dow!_  
  
That was his phone ringing. Who could possibly be...  
  
"Hello?" Izuku asked, finally answering the phone.  
  
'Hey, champ! How ya doin'!' It was the Tick. The Tick called him? He never called him. He was like a force that was always looming and waiting.  
  
"What's up Tick? You don't normally call me." He could hear something on the other end. A loud, wrenching noise and loud pop pop pops in the background.  
  
'Ah, I was just checkin' up on my li'l buddy. Seeing if your busy?' What was he talking about? And then Izuku could hear it, even though it sounded like someone put their hand over the phone's receiver. 'I'm on the phone! RUDE'  
  
"Errr... I wouldn't say busy, but I just got home." There was another noise on the end.  
  
'Oh, right. School. You finished your homework, friend?'  
  
"Uh, not yet, but... Tick, what's going on?" There sounded like a pause on the other hand.  
  
'Nothing. Nothing important. Nothing for you to worry about. Just get your homework done, sport. And I'll call you in an hour... two hours. Later tonight. ' That's when the call... well it didn't end, he could still hear it on the other side. ' **Spoooooooooooooon!** ' The Tick... always getting into trouble... always doing something stupid and foolish. But honestly, the tick could take care of himself. Probably. He never got that call later that night and with all the regular homework he had, never managed to make it out himself.  
  
The next morning, it was all over the news, national news. The Tick was usually just a local living legend, but now... now he was going to be known far and wide. Apparently a gathering of would be supervillains was interrupted by Mustafu's new beloved big blue bug of justice. According to witnesses, they saw the Tick running the roof tops... take a leap... and crash right through a sky light.  
  
'Then he comes running out followed by like... 10 guys with the ugliest mutation quirks!' The witness on the television said, describing the fight. How they were firing off their quirks at the Tick and shooting at him and nothing was sticking. 'And then he goes over to a payphone and makes a phone call, all while fighting off these guys! It was like wow! I don't think it was necessary to rip out the pay phone, but it must've been important!' Izuku, he knew if you told the Tick that something was completely unnecessary he'd argue the point, then do it anyway.  
  
Also, he appeared to have the Devil's Own Luck. Crashing a meeting of super villains? Just like that!? Amazing. They managed to do the same together, but only after an investigation. He always thought that the Tick needed him for that, but if he was capable of just stumbling upon it. The witness mentioned that he also managed to get something from the Tick as well. A little recording for when the news crew did show up.  
  
Even in the landscape mode, the larger then life visage of the Tick was filling the screen. 'I am MIGHTY! I have a glow you cannot see! A heart as big as the moon and as warm as bathwater! I'm a superhero,, man, I don't have time to be charming! I'm watching the big picture and I know the score! I am a public servant, not a glamor boy. Keep your vulgar moneys! I AM A JUSTICE SANDWICH! No toppings necessary!' At this point, he was going to become a national phenomenon.  
  
He shook his head. He had class today. He didn't need to worry about the Tick and his 15 minutes of fame on the television, the Tick certainly wouldn't. No, no, no, Izuku was about to start day three of super hero school! He felt himself vibrating, he was still so excited! He still couldn't believe it! He was going to UA... where everyone in the freshman year... was actively hunting for him.  
  
He felt himself stop and deflate and he fell forward, his head landing on the table. Right. That little game. That little target on his back. His colleagues... his compatriots... his friends. He didn't know what was going through the head of the various teachers as UA. They knew who he was. He knew who he was. He sighed.  
  
"It's probably one of these misery builds character moments..." Just what he needed, another one of those! Of course, he should be getting punished because he was literally breaking the law, but if the law is unjust, if the law kept him from helping people and protecting people and saving people, then breaking the law is justice!  
  
He was living two lives, and he was trying to find the balance. The vigilante that asked for no reward, except for the knowledge that they helped their fellow man. The hero in training, learning to carry the world upon his shoulders as the successor to the Symbol of Peace. Carrying two great burdens. Three, actually. He had to keep his new found friends at school from discovering his illegal activities.  
  
Getting to school was a drudge, if there ever was one. Everyone was gossiping about the Tick. Looks like his speech that guy recorded wasn't just on the news, it was going viral on social media and video sharing sites. Sure, the Tick was famous in Mustafu and it's surrounding environs, but now? Now he was all over Japan!  
  
Which was why he was surprised that there was such a huge crowd of news reporters at the gates of the School. Could it be... possible? Could they have found out? It was day three! That was impossible! And then one of the reporters shoved a recording device into his face.  
  
"Hey, kid! What's it like to have All Might as a teacher?" Oh... that's what they were asking about? It almost seemed... boring, but at the same time so unexpected that he didn't have an answer to give! Sensing fresh blood in the water, the news reporters soon crowded around him, asking mile a minute questions!  
  
Why was it so much easier to just brush off such things when in costume? Why couldn't he be as brave as just regular ordinary Izuku as he was as Aphid? He tried to back away from the group of reporters, until a strong arm pulled him away. Tenya Iida had pulled him from those jackals. They continued to follow the two, before the gates slammed shut.  
  
"Are you alright, Midoriya?" Tenya asked, as Izuku recovered from everything.  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine." He looked at the closed gates. "Geeze... UA doesn't play around with protection, do they?" Apparently if you weren't supposed to be at UA, you weren't getting in. "I guess All Might teaching at UA is probably a big deal for a slow news day."  
  
"It hasn't really been a slow news day. Not if you check the internet, Midoriya. That... that Tick vigilante has done something even I thought was impossible." He turned to Izuku, a crazed look in his eye. "He's corrupted my older brother!" he realized that he had his hands on Izuku's shoulders and straightened himself up.  
  
"How... so, Iida? He's a pro hero, isn't he?" As far as Izuku knew, no pro hero in Japan actually liked the Tick. Most were scared or indifferent.  
  
"Yes, you can imagine my shock when he told me that while he didn't agree with the Tick's vigilantism, he agreed with the sentiment of the purity of heroism found in the Tick's speech!" He adjusted their glasses as they walked up the steps to the door itself.  
  
"Did you watch the speech?" Izuku asked, before regretting it near immediately!  
  
"Yes, yes I have! In one 30 second clip he's gone and made a mockery of everyone that participates in the Hero Profession! From the Heroes themselves, to their managers, to their support personnel! Glamor boy? Vulgar money?" He calmed down after a breath or two, he looked over to Izuku. "Apologies. I believe I may have lost my temper. Whatever good intentions that the Tick has, he is still breaking the law. And heroes uphold law and order." That was a point that Izuku would argue against. The police and the courts uphold law and order, it was a heroes job to uphold justice and righteousness! But he would never voice something like that, something so... Tickian would get him found out.  
  
It really did appear that Tenya wanted to be nothing more then to be the greatest hero that he could possibly be. It was respectable, but... he was too conforming. Tenya Iida was the type of person that needed structure in his life. Izuku wasn't going to fault him for that as he stated, his brother was a professional hero and that certainly meant that professionalism was in his blood.  
  
"Iida... I don't think that the professional superhero is going to go away just because the nation is enamored with a single vigilante, even if they do become incredibly popular. Besides, I'm sure the Tick is nothing more then a flash in the pan. Give it a few days and no one will talk about him." Or at least he could only hope. The less heat on the Tick, the less heat on the Aphid. Or at least that was the hope that Izuku had.  
  
"Though, I noticed in the witness interviews, there was an over all lack of mention of, our erstwhile academic comrade, the Aphid. I had been most intrigued by that fact."  
  
"They go to our school, Iida. Maybe they just got swamped with homework? I know I wasn't done with my homework until at least 9pm." They continued talking about the event last night and the mass of reporters that were still around the school, kept out by the security system. Their homeroom teacher, as was starting to become a theme, was in a yellow sleeping bag next to his desk.  
  
"Good morning, sensei." Izuku greeting the grumpy professional hero. It was... it was always weird to see someone in a full sleeping bag, just glaring at the world like they really didn't want to be here.  
  
"And what's so good about it, Midoriya?" Izuku shrugged, as he got to his desk.  
  
"You woke up breathing, didn't you?" Izuku used that as his standard for a long, long, long time. Once everyone was settled, their teacher made an announcement.  
  
"As it is day three, I want you all to think about something important. The class president. I really don't care how you choose, but make sure someone is chosen at the end of the day." An actual, normal school activity? What were the chances!? Still murmurings filled the room, as they thought just how they were going to to do this. How they were going to pick the class rep. Tenya Iida stood up at his deck and announced his brilliant idea.  
  
"We should have an election!" An election wasn't that bad an idea, but this was the third day of school, period.  
  
"And if we do that, everyone is just going to vote for themselves. It's barely been two days, no one knows anyone, not really." Izuku's point was made and others agreed.  
  
"That's what makes the plan brilliant! If one person can get another to vote for them, they've made a huge impact in only two days!" It was a good point, a point that Izuku would give to him. All they need were twenty slips of paper and a box to put them in, provided by Momo.  
  
At the end, the votes were tallied.  
  
Izuku Midoriya received 4 votes. Momo Yaoyorozu received 3. President and vice president for class rep.  
  
"4 votes? I don't understand! Why would I get 4 votes?" They were heading to lunch, Izuku Midoriya, president for 1-A, and his group of friends. Tenya Iida, Ochako Uraraka, Denki Kaminari, and Minoru Mineta.  
  
"I think it's obvious. I voted for you." Tenya stated. Ochako nodded along. "And so did I!"  
  
"We did, too." Mineta said, motioning to himself and Kaminari.  
  
"It seems like the only person that didn't vote for you, Midoriya, is you." Izuku shrugged. It was true, he didn't vote for himself.  
  
"It didn't feel right to just vote for myself. But now I'm class president and I have no idea what I'm going to do and this is too much for my shoulders to bear!" Izuku felt like he was going to pull apart at the seams. He never had any kind of responsibility like this and it was just too much, too early!  
  
"Midoriya!" Tenya knocked him out of his revelry, his muttering and monologuing. "If we didn't believe in you, we wouldn't have voted you. You have all of our confidence in you." That managed to stop Izuku from muttering and, perhaps... he'll have to see.  
  
Getting to their lunch table found the two of the other members of their little Aphid Hunt group idly chatting. Itsuka Kendo and Hitoshi Shinsou. They seemed to having a bit of a heated argument.  
  
"I'm not saying it's a bad idea, and it's a clever use for your quirk, but just going up to every student and using it on them seems... tedious. And not only that, we need hard evidence to back up our claims. I doubt the teachers would accept that we got them to confess." The pale skinned boy with strange eyes looked over the ginger, with a dead emotionless look.  
  
"What's harder evidence then a written confession?" Hitoshi replied in his usual monotone. Itsuka sighed, and saw the other five arive.  
  
"Midoriya, Iida, perhaps you can talk some sense into Shinsou. He wants to use his quirk to get Aphid to confess to being Aphid." She explained to them.  
  
"Hmmm... that is interesting. Shinsou, can you explain how your quirk works?" Tenya asked. They could go places with this.  
  
"I call it Brainwashing. I typically ask you a question, you respond, then I tell you what to do." Is the purple haired boy's reply. That was scary powerful, but...  
  
"If you used it on someone to get them to confess to being Aphid, Shinsou, would it work if they weren't actually Aphid?" Izuku's words caused the other boy to blink, as he thought about it.  
  
"Well, I'll be damned..." Hitoshi grimaced. The one thing he could have actually helped with and it didn't actually work. "I suppose hard evidence is the way to go."  
  
"It certainly is! After I finished my homework, I spent some time looking at some of the footage uploaded to the cloud. That Aphid has some nice moves, so I was thinking we could monitor combat classes in the heroics course and see if anyone shares any." It was a good plan that Ochako suggested. It was a good plan, and Izuku was certain that he behaved differently as a jack rabbit then as an aphid.  
  
"That's if he's in the heroes course. He could just as easily be in any other course!" Some good insight from Denki, but...  
  
"Are we even going to assume that Aphid's male?" Izuku asked. "Their costume is baggy enough and they could just be..." He looked from Itsuka to Ochako. "Relatively flat chested?" That was so stupid of him to say, and he knew it, a blush tinging his cheeks as the two girls giggled.  
  
"Heeeey. I don't get it. If I did something like that, I'd get hit!" Minoru protested, his words falling on deaf ears as he protested the absolute unfairness of it all, and in fact did get a light hit from both girls, as Mei Hatsume finally showed up.  
  
"Ugh. This whole school year is going to be... intolerable!" She said, sitting down heavily.  
  
"Power Loader, again?" Izuku asked, happy to change the subject!  
  
"Yes, Power Loader again. He talks to me before lunch and tells me that I might be his most troublesome student. He tells me 'Hatsume, I had a nightmare last night. That you accidentally contacted the Mei Hatsume of an alternate universe and the two of you founded the Council of Mei, gathered up other versions of yourself, and proceeded to conquer all of reality!' Of all the crazy things I ever heard..." She looked around, the other 7 looking at her. Izuku took a breath, and decided to bite the bullet. No one else was.  
  
"Is it completely unfounded, Mei? Are you not planning on doing that?"  
  
There was a pause. A long silent pause, as everyone leaned in.  
  
"No, no I do not." Mei finally said, as the silence ended. She quickly changed the subject from the minute long pause that seemed to have everyone sweating bullets. "So I was reviewing what I could tell from Aphid's tech and I think I should be able to replicate just about all of it so we can get an idea of what they're using and knowing what they're using might let us build a better profile." While that would be brilliant idea, no one could actually comment on it, because the alarm went off.  
  
The alarm that basically told every one that the school was being invaded, so evacuate. Every student in the cafeteria... every student in the classrooms. Every student in the school. The push of a human tide that the 8 got caught up in and separated from! Izuku felt like a salmon, trying to swim up stream, pushed against a glass window and he saw it. The invading force... turned out to be nothing more then the army of reporters that were outside. Everyone was acting like supervillains were attacking, but it was just the jackals from earlier! Of course that would cause the panic.  
  
He finally managed to get out of the sea of people, still moving like a crushing tide. He thought about it, before he managed to channel 1% of his powerful quirk to his fingers... then to his lungs before placing his fingers to his mouth and letting out the shrillest whistle anyone had ever heard. Almost as one, the student body turned to look at him. He gulped, took a deep breath, and then addressed the students.  
  
"It's just the reporters! They somehow managed to get in! So why don't we calm down and not trample anyone!?" With the news presented, the student body calmed down, and he hopped off the window sill. He found Tenya there to greet him.  
  
"Well done, Midoriya! Voting for you was not a mistake at all! Outstanding!" Tenya clapped him on the shoulder. Great, now Izuku was stuck with being president, there was no way that Tenya would take it from him with that demonstration. Still, with the breach, the rest of the school day was cut short, leaving Izuku plenty of time to finish what homework he needed too and most importantly... allowed him to suit up and meet up with the Tick.  
  
Which found him, hours later, squatting on the edge of a building. "Looking over the city, like some ancient grotesque, carved by a forgotten hand..." He trailed off when he found himself in the middle of a monologue.  
  
"Something on your mind, chum? If I can't be the brooding angst driven hero, neither can you!" The Tick was right. The Tick was always right when it came to predicting Izuku's mood.  
  
"It's nothing. School's... school's been interesting. The class elected me to be our rep, I can't help but second guess the trial we had yesterday, and... oh, right! The first day, the principal manages to not only tell me that he knows that I'm a vigilante, he does it over the PA system, so everyone knows that Aphid goes to UA and then the homeroom teacher tells us that there's a goal for the whole freshman body to find out who I am!" He was shouting. He didn't mean to shout.  
  
"So?" The Tick was never so taciturn, never so calm. "What's it matter? If I were you, I would've declared that yes! You are the Aphid! And anyone that wants to challenge you, well! There's a playground somewhere you can rumble in, ain't there?"  
  
"... errr... you can't solve everything with your fists, Tick. Isn't that why we work together? I do all the thinking, you do all the rest?" Izuku replied. "Besides, what do you have to worry about? We've been partners for months, and I don't even know your first name."  
  
"Nonsense! You've always known my first name, it's The." Oh, well... Izuku didn't exactly know how to reply to that, just that maybe he should have seen that coming. "Hark! I believe I hear a scream in the night! The Car of Innocence has broken down and is need of our 24 hour service station of righteousness!" The rest of the night was the regular glut of purse snatchers, muggers, and the like. It seemed that whoever was behind the quirk enhancement drug was starting to wise up. The usual suspects that would point in the right direction hadn't heard much, especially after the last bust.  
  
That was fine. Their investigation was still in it's infancy and he still needed time to sort through all of the evidence they gathered, anyway. Still, a conspiracy is a conspiracy, but Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither would this mystery be solved in a single night. A night that ended when Izuku sneaked into his room at 1am, telling the Tick he would spend the next night working on homework and furthering his investigation.  
  
Which quickly lead to the Dawn of the Fourth Day... of the school year. Apparently, they were to be going on a field trip. And not just any field trip, but they were going to a special facility that would help train them in disaster preparedness. It was not enough that they had Aizawa-sensei, but they would be monitored by two other pro heroes! One of them being All Might himself!  
  
Izuku was actually giddy. A chance to use his quirk... they were in costume. It just was like the Battle Trial, but this time there would be no villains. They arrived at a large dome structure, and inside they were greeted by the Space Hero, Thirteen, and that this was the Unforeseen Simulation Joint. A facility designed to train would be heroes in any type of disaster!  
  
Speaking of unforeseen disasters, it wasn't until barely two seconds had passed that something had broken through the top of the dome. Seven feet tall. 400 pounds. The Big Blue Bug of Justice. Wearing a camera around his neck. Izuku felt his heart jump into his throat. Aizawa-sensei looked surprised. Half the class looked surprised.  
  
"What. Are. You. Doing. Here?" Izuku asked in gritted teeth. It just so happened that the Tick landed right next to him.  
  
"I said I wanted to go to Universal Studios Japan, and here I am... moss-headed boy child I've not recollection of communicating with." He looked over the class. "Oh, neat! I didn't know it was Halloween yet! And look, you got my good pal Pencil Cap, too!" The Wild Blue Yonder ambled over to Eraserhead. The appeared to get into an argument, over what, well, Izuku had an idea, but really he didn't care. All he was thinking is that this was it. His cover was blown. He talked to the Tick and the Tick talked to him and how was he going to explain that?  
  
He notices that both the Tick and Aizawa-sensei have stopped arguing, they're both staring down at the center of the USJ. Everyone else sees it too. The portals that form, the people spilling out of them.  
  
"My goodness, you lot go full out for your parties, don't you?" The Tick asked Aizawa. The pro hero looked at the mad Vigilante.  
  
"Those aren't supposed to be here... they're villains." He put on his goggles. He was going to need them to do this fight.  
  
"Really? Neat!" The Tick took his camera off, and put to the side. "I'll need that later. Make sure it doesn't' get broken." He took a few steps back, even as Aizawa had already jumped into the fray, before running, full tilt and leaping, his battle cry upon his lips! " **SPOOOOO ooooooonnnnnn...!**" He traveled through the air, like a rocket, perfectly stable as his spiraled through the air before he slammed into a group of villains, head first, with the power of a mortar!  
  
A dozen villains went flying, as a crater formed from his impact, as he got to his feet. "Ha! Everyone knows that the top of your head is the hardest part." He looked around at the villains before him, cracking his knuckles. "Now, fellas, I got a nice reality check I'm going to cut for each and everyone of you... or would you prefer the cold hard cash of the truth?" The villains made no reply as they charged the large vigilante, only for five of them to be caught in a lazy back handed swing that sent them flying across the domed interior, leaving an opening for another villain to land a solid... but totally ineffective punch.  
  
"Points for effort." The Tick replied, before flicking the villain on the chin. "What did I say, Pencil Cap? We'd be fighting along side each other, cracking wise about that time I broke your nose!" Aizawa made no reply, but with a veritable army of villains, how long could they hold out and keep them from harming the kids? He was making a good showing of cleaning up villains, but the Tick... the Tick was taking them down, one after another. Super Strength and Nigh Invulnerability, wasted on a vigilante.  
  
The man standing next to beast shouted a command and before Aizawa could do anything, the user of that warp quirk was upon the children, attacking Thirteen. It cost him a second and one of them got a decent hit. He had to focus. No distractions, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw a portal form behind the Tick... and saw as it was being drawn in!  
  
It looked like the Warp quirk user was tricking Thirteen! And if nothing happened, the Tick would be absorbed by the Black Hole and turned to dust! The vigilante must have noticed the same.  
  
"Nnnngh! Egads! I seem to be... under the effect of a black hole!" There was no way for Thirteen to know that it wasn't affecting the Warp Quirk user, not until the Tick came flying through it. He saw the squared jaw vigilante grit his teeth. "Must... triumph... over... PHYSICS!" And punched at the Portal! The pull stopped soon after mighty blow landed!  
**  
<\--- To Be Continued!**


	10. Issue 10

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue #10  
  
As soon as Aizawa and the Tick leapt down the stairs, Thirteen turned to the heroes in training. "Alright kids, stick with me! I'll make sure no harm comes to you!" It was a good sentiment, even as Eraserhear and the Tick scythed through the mooks at the foot of the stairs.  
  
"Shouldn't their be an alarm?" Izuku asked. "In case something like this happened?" Surely Thirteen, in designing the facility, would have planned for something like this... unforeseen it maybe would have been planned for.  
  
"It should, yes, but something is jamming all our communications!" Thirteen replied. Izuku had to think fast, before turning to Tenya.  
  
"Iida, you're the fastest one here, I need you to head back to UA. You're the only one that can do it." He told the Engine quirk user, who shook his head.  
  
"I can't... I won't abandon you and the rest, Midoriya." Tenya protested.  
  
"You're not abandoning us, Iida. You're going to save us. But I need you to run! You trusted me enough to vote for me? Then trust me enough to protect everyone!" With that, Tenya nodded. He could do this.  
  
"How inspiring, but I think not." And between them and the exit was the Warp Quirk user, a pair of yellow eyes within a swirling black miasma of energy! Kastuki and Eijiro were the first to act, impulsively. It was however, ineffective, as they passed through the quirk user!  
  
"Don't worry, kids! I got this one!" Thirteen faced the warp quirk user and opened up the Black Hole. "How long can you resist, tough guy?" It was the opening Tenya needed, and he raced out, successfully exiting the USJ.  
  
"Damn you, Kurogiri!" They could hear the man standing next to the beast, shout. "If I didn't need you, I would kill you myself!"  
  
"Sorry, Shagaraki!" Now that they had a name to the warp quirk user and the man with the hands.  
  
"Wait! Thirteen! I think he's trying something!" Izuku called out and before anyone could tell, a wall of force seemed to come from the warp quirk, slamming into the Space Hero. Black Hole soon shut down.  
  
"Well..." Thirteen started falling forward. "... that sucked." And the Space Hero was out just like that.  
  
Down at the foot of the stairs, everyone was staring at the Tick.  
  
"What? Have you never seen a man punch a black hole before?" He asked all of them. The lesser villains started to back away from him. That type of power was... unexpected. The man wearing the hands was scratching at his neck.  
  
"Okay. Looks like we got a god modder. That's alright. I'll just have to deploy my developer's kit. Noumu?" The beast looked at him. "Kill the blue one!" The beast charged towards the Tick, a massive fist landing on the big blue bug of Justice, pushing him back as his heels carved furrows into the ground.  
  
"Ha! I'm sorry, Mister Lipz! But you see, I am NIGH INVULNERABLE And I'm strong, too!" And he charged, landing a mighty blow! .... that appeared to do nothing. "Hmmm... I'm certain I did that right. One moment." He went through he motions and landed yet another mighty blow! That failed to do anything. "I'm not used to my foes not flying away after landing a hit like that... you're sturdier then I gave credit for."  
  
Back to the top of the stairs, the students tried attacking Kurogiri again! "This grows tiresome!"  
  
"Look out!" Ochako shouted, as almost the entirety of the class was engulfed by the warp quirk!  
  
There was a feeling of weightlessness as Izuku went from top of the stairs to somewhere else. The crushing weight of water... with the light so dim, he wasn't sure he could swim up in time. He was drowning. Just like when he was suffocated by the sludge monster.  
  
Oh, and there was a shark. Least he wouldn't drown, he'd just get torn to pieces!  
  
Until he felt something wrap around his waist and soon enough, he was out of the water and on the deck of the boat, coughing up water.  
  
"What...?" He looked around seeing Minoru and Tsuyu. "Mineta! Asui! What... where are we?"  
  
"Looks like the water disaster zone." Tsuyu said. Her typical admonishment was unsaid, there were more important things to talk about.  
  
"Your quirk, it's Frog, right? Why would they send you to the water disaster... unless..." Izuku trailed off, before at the same time with Tsuyu. "They don't know our quirks!" It was the only thing that made sense! They only knew they would be here, not what their quirks were!  
  
"Fuck what Shigaraki says, I feel like frog legs!" And before anyone could react, one the shark faced villains in the water was on the deck of the boat, surprising the three youths, Izuku grabbed hold of Minoru and Tsuyu, wrapped himself in the energies of One for All, feeling it in his skin just as the wicked looking claws of the man beast on his back. It shredded his costume, and he felt the pain from the impact, but the iron hard claws just skated across his skin.  
  
"What!?" The surprise was just what the students needed, as Tsuyu managed to use her tongue to knock him back into the water.  
  
"Okay, we need a plan. We need to get off the boat and we need to get back to the others!" It was agreed, they would have to use all their quirks in tanden to get off of this boat! Tsuyu grabbed both Mineta and Izuku and leapt, Izuku took aim and may have used a bit too much of of One for All in that finger flick of doom. He didn't break his finger, but he certainly dislocated it, the only thing hold it together being the struts on his gloves. He gritted his teeth and set his jaw to accept the pain.  
  
The villains weren't expecting such power, as the cascade of water was similar to a bomb going off, sending the villains into the air with a water geyser, and with Minoru's pop off, those water based villains were stuck together!  
  
"Ha! They'll be like that for hours!" Minoru shouted! Unfortunately, the force of the blast was enough to throw them off course, landing in the land slide zone. He could hear the explosions as they landed on a rocky outcropping. Of course Katsuki Bakugo would be here. He felt a tap on his shoulders.  
  
"Hey, Midoriya... looks like Bakugo and Kirishima might have more company." Minoru pointed to another group of villains, watching as Katsuki and Eijiro made short work of the others.  
  
One of them was familiar. Talon like fingers, sharp as razors, hard as steel, capable of cutting through bone and muscle and sinew with the greatest of ease. But it was the face that confirmed it. A face he would never, ever forget for the rest of his life, as he and his cohorts got the drop of Katsuki and Eijiro!  
  
And all of the sudden, he's four years old again, in Coursan Park... his father holding him tight as they ran from the screaming and the pop pop pop noises.  
  
"Keep your eyes closed, Izuku! Just keep your eyes closed!" His father pleading with him as he kept his wide green eyes screwed shut, holding onto his father desperately. They were soon out of the park... out of danger. Hisashi put his son down, trying to catch his breath. He wasn't built for sprinting, but they were out of the park. He didn't think the villains had seen them.  
  
Sirens wee off to the distance. The police and heroes were on their way! He got down on one knee so he could look his son in the eyes. "Izuku... I need you to be brave for Daddy. Can you do that?" The boy nods, as he stands. "Find someplace to hide, and don't come out unless it's me, a police officer, or a hero. I'm going to go see if anyone needs any help, okay?" He didn't wait for his son to reply, before turning and suddenly stopping.  
  
"D... daddy?" Young Izuku didn't know what to think, didn't know what to say. Why wasn't his father doing what he said? There was a wet squelching noise, and apprehension turned into fear as his father fell to his knees, then forward... a pool of dark red blood seeping under him and standing in front of Izuku Midoriya was a monster wearing human skin, fingers like knives and a smile that showed no emotion, no mirth, nothing but teeth.  
  
The man monster approached Izuku, got down on one knee and laughed. "Hey, what's that behind yer ear?" He reached to the shock still boy, his eyes wide as saucers, reaching right behind his ear. Razor edged fingers, wet and sticky with his father's blood came back, empty. "Oh, wait. It's nothin'!" The monster before him laughed, as he stood up. "Just like you!" Izuku let out a silent, pained squeal as he felt those talons on his head, his hair rustled as his father's blood was smeared onto his scalp.  
  
And just as suddenly, he's back to the present, as he and Asui and Mineta looked out from the rocky outcropping they were taking cover in. His throat was tight, he was having trouble breathing, but he was, staring down his nightmares made real. The man that murdered his father, rounding on his classmates. He could hear his voice, rough with age, but just as toxic on his ears.  
  
"Ya know, some people think I'm psychopath that likes being up to my elbows in gore and viscera. They're right, but I ain't stupid." The knife fingered man made a sweeping gesture to the various low rent villains that Katsuki and Eijiro had already swept through. Of course, they couldn't do much now, one of the villains was some kind of ferrokinetic, and the two were both tied up tightly with thick iron chains the one carried.  
  
"The last thing I wanted to do was go in without knowing nothing, so I let these dumb sonsa bitches do it for me." He started laughing, a dark hollow sound. He gestured to the ferrokinetic. "Laugh wit' me. Or I'll kill you." There was a brief moment, and then the ferrokinetic did so, nervously.  
  
"That's the other thing I know. Be scarier then any body else, and there's nothing scarier then me right here, right now. So let's play a game. I like to call it... Ear, Eye, or Nose. Ya tell me which one I cut off yer friend... and then I feed it to ya."  
  
Just beyond, in a rocky out cropping, Izuku felt his whole body shaking. It was a rage he didn't know he was capable of, a burning anger deep inside of him. His legs were moving on his own, but this wasn't the run into a stray hellfire spear or towards a villain made of mud, this was a purposeful stride, each step deliberate as he shook with fury.  
  
"Midoriya!" He thought he heard Minoru hiss at him as he walked towards his targets. "What are you doing!?" They had barely lucked out from the water hazard zone! And here Izuku was, going to get himself killed!  
  
Three villains, he raised his hand, charged One for All into two of his fingers and flicked, that same familiar sensation of forces his body shouldn't be able to hold, released! And slamming into the other two villains, and slamming them into the rocky cliff face. This was not unnoticed by the sharp handed villain.  
  
"Who...?" He turned around, just for a reinforced glove to slam into the side of his head, sending him down to the hard ground. He spat out blood, and a tooth.  
  
For Katsuki Bakugo, this was beyond anything he had expected. They had got caught being cocky, and here was Deku, coming to his rescue. He wanted to say something, but... he could see something, with that ridiculous rabbit hood down, he could see something dark in the green haired boy's eyes.  
  
"Get up." It was quiet, almost a whisper, but a command like any other. The villain gladly did so, a snarl on his face as he got to his feet.  
  
"I don' think ya erghk!" He barely got his sentence out before he found a fist driven right into his liver, coughing up a splash of blood as he fell over again. Tsuyu and Minoru used this as their chance. Two of the villains were out of commission, and Izuku was making a good distraction, they could free Katsuki and Eijiro.  
  
"Get up." It was the only thing he said, the only thing Izuku could say, looking at the greatest nightmare in his life. And as soon as he was back on his feet, he planted his fist in the monster's gut, sending him crashing to the ground like the felling of a great oak tree. He looked down, his eyes still wide, looking at a point in the distance far beyond the Unforeseen Simulation Joint.  
  
"Get up." He repeated himself, tightly balling his hands into fists. This... it felt good. It felt real good.  
  
"How do you tie a chain?" Minoru asked to himself, as he and Tsuyu worked on freeing their classmates, Katsuki just focused on Deku of all people... toying with a villain. He watched as the knife fingered bastard finally managed to get a strike in, the claws of his hands cutting through Deku's costume... but their wasn't any blood. Not until he grabbed the villain's wrists in his hands and squeezed with a sickening snapping of bones. The cry the villain gave out was agonizing and he felt his stomach churn. Finally, the frog bitch and the crybaby had him and Eijiro free.  
  
"Dammit, Deku! Stop taunting him, and finish it-!" He gave pause, as Deku pointed to him, not looking at him, but pointed to him.  
  
"Katsuki, shut up. Or I'm dealing with you next after I'm finished with this piece of human garbage!" The anger was there... a rage that could only come through one that was completely calm. Still waters ran deep, they said, and Izuku Midoriya was as still as possible.  
  
"Hey, what's that behind your ear?" He said to the beaten, battered villain, his one eye was swollen shut, but the other grew wide, as Izuku grabbed him by the hair with his left hand. "Oh wait, it's nothing!" He cocked his fist back, One for All flowing into his limbs, with his anger and his hatred and his fury and his rage. It would blow his arm up, but he didn't care. No one was going to suffer this trash ever again. It was funny, the tears were flowing as fast and strong as that day, but his eyes were open this time!  
  
**"JUST! LIKE! YOU!"**  
  
**< \---- To Be Continued!**


	11. Issue 11

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue 11  
  
Minoru Mineta was a lot of things. He was short, he had a weird quirk, he liked girls, etc etc etc. But what he lacked in physical might he made up in his intelligence. He did excessively well on the written portion of the entrance exam. And maybe he wasn't the best at reading social settings, but he knew about his friend.  
  
Sure, he only knew Izuku Midoriya for a few days, but Izuku did a few things for Minoru that he'd never forget. If it wasn't for the boy, Minoru would have been crushed under that rubble. That was a debt, a life debt, how could you repay one of those? Then there was the first day of school, when Izuku stood up to Aizawa-sensei after the apprehension test!  
  
No one had ever done that for him. No one ever believed in him. He was the weird crybaby kid with a weird quirk that could never make it as a hero and he should just stop. But not Izuku Midoriya, he said that Minoru had the heart of a hero beating in his chest! And so Minoru took on more debt he owed the taller boy.  
  
The spiel he gave about some American wash up was a bit much, but Minoru saw it for what it was. Izuku Midoriya... was looking out for him. What was he supposed to say to that? Yeah, he could admit it, Izuku Midoirya was Minoru Mineta's hero!  
  
Which was why as he went and worked on untying a chain wrapped around Eijiro, but he kept an eye on Izuku, watching him pick a part that psycho with the knife hands. He had talked with Izuku several times, he liked to think they were friends, and he knew that Izuku was a polite, soft spoken young man.  
  
This was not that same person, he was spitting out his words from clenched teeth and this wasn't anything they learned in the single combat class they had. Minoru was more then sure that when the enemy was battered, bruised, broken, no longer a threat. And you certainly didn't cripple them!  
  
The asshole said something, just as Minoru finished untying Eijiro. Something that Izuku didn't like.  
  
"Katsuki, shut up. Or I'm dealing with you next after I'm finished with this piece of human garbage!" The hatred in his voice was palpable, washing over them. And that look in Izuku's eyes! Minoru had never seen anything like that, as the man monster was on his knees, infront of Izuku.  
  
Minoru's eyes went wide as he saw the hatred in his friend's green eyes, a burning fury that was so unlike his hero, as Izuku dipped down and spoke to the villain.  
  
"Hey, what's that behind your ear?" ... ... ... that made no sense, but a dawning sensation came upon him.  
  
"Oh... oh shit! Asui! I need you to grab the villain with your tongue! Kirishima, get ready to tackle Midoriya if you need too!" He didn't bother giving an order to Katsuki. Not like that asshole would follow it anyway.  
  
"What? Why?" Tsuyu didn't see it, not yet, but he recognized the spark of realization in her eyes.  
  
"Oh, wait! It's nothing!" Izuku's voice was almost cracking, as he had the villain by his hair and cocked his fist back.  
  
"He's going to kill him!" Minoru told Kirishima, as he readied his own quirk. He saw what Izuku did to the gimmick in their battle zone, he didn't think Pop Off could do anything, but he was going to give it the college try! It was the most horrible thing he saw, Izuku Midoriya, trembling and crying as he was about to execute a villain!  
  
**"JUST! LIKE! YOU!"**  
  
Across the way, amongst the melee of the villains vs heroes, Aizawa was at his upper limit. He was being overwhelmed, but honestly? He was glad it was the Tick taking the brunt of Noumu's attacks, able to take blows that the Erasure Hero was sure would have laid himself out in a hospital for months!  
  
Shigaraki, on the other hand, was getting more and more impatient. He was expecting the Tick to be dead by now, but all he was doing was still joking about his fight with Mister Lipz. He was still scratching his neck. He didn't need to deal with this right now. He was supposed to be killing All Might and here he was, wasting Noumu on some... interloper!  
  
"Noumu, hold him down." Shigaraki said, approaching the Tick, now in the hold of the monstrous beast  
  
"I'll have you know, Handyman, that I am the ALMIGHTY JANITOR OF JUSTICE! Cleaning up the evil spills of wickedness!" The Tick proudly exclaimed, struggling against his bonds.  
  
"I am going to enjoy this... way more then I really should." He had a wicked smile on his face as he put his hand on the Tick's face, all five fingers touching him. It grew wider as the Tick screamed in pain, agony, torturous suffering. It would be over soon.  
  
His army had overwhelmed Eraserhead... the kids were being killed and... perhaps killing All Might as a symbol was better then actually literally killing him, but he'd prefer to do both. The Tick's screaming was a distraction, so he put his other hand on.  
  
After a minute, he frowned. After another 30 seconds, his eye twitched. The large man was screaming in pain, so his quirk was working, but...  
  
"Why aren't you dying!?" He let his frustration get the best of him, looking at the... blue covered man before him, who had grit his teeth!  
  
"Because.... I DON'T WANT TOO!" Shigaraki just poured more of his power into the idiot, ignoring a large crash in the distance.  
  
They worked fast! The plan had worked! He was actually surprised that it did! Tsuyu grabbed the villain with her tongue, able to wrench him from Izuku's grip! Minoru only managed a few of his balls to land on Izuku's arm, mostly surrounding his fist.  
  
Even without hitting anything, the power in Izuku's strength was mind boggling! A crated appeared at his feet, and a wave of force crashed into the cliff, drilling an almost perfectly circular hole in it!  
  
Eijiro didn't need to charge in and tack Izuku, all the green haired boy did was fall to his knees and let out a wailing sob. The villain had already lost consciousness by this point, as the three approached the crying boy, his body shaking.  
  
"Mi... Midoriya?" Minoru didn't know what to say, what to do. This was his friend and he looked like he was going through hell. He may have been, the way he was acting before. Katsuki was all rage and fury, but Izuku? That was pure, cold hatred distilled down to maximum potency.  
  
Izuku forced himself forward, with a gasp, his eyes already red and puffy as tears were freely flowing. "He... he killed him. He killed my father and then he mocked me for it! I didn't... I just..." He broke off into another set of sobs.  
  
"You wanted to make it right, didn't you? He hurt you, and you wanted to hurt him back." It was heart breaking to see Izuku like this, as he nodded. Minoru had never seen such sorrow before, neither had Tsuyu.  
  
"... Bakugo's nick name for you, it's an alternative reading for you name?" Tsuyu asked. Deku, a type of puppet... or worthless. Useless. Nothing.  
  
"Dammit, Bakugo!" Minoru turned to the blonde, who was still shock still."Every time you addressed him, you just reinforced what a SPREE KILLER told him after butchering his father!" He was angry, Bakugo wasn't an idiot. He should've realized this, or was he so much an asshole that he only looked out for himself?  
  
"Hey, hey... Midoriya... Izuku, look at me." He waited for Izuku to look at him... it was an ugly look. Red, bloodshot eyes... it was literally heart breaking. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Eijiro and Tsuyu letting Katsuki have it. "Feeling like you did... that's okay. That's fine. That's being human." He had to think over his words. What he said could make or break his friend.  
  
"Remember what you said about me? That first day? About how I had a heart of a hero beating in my chest? So do you!" He poked Izuku. "And heroes... they don't kill. I'm not saying don't hate him, but we have to be better." He saw Izuku close his eyes, as he nodded.  
  
"Mi..." Izuku stopped, letting out a held breath. "Minoru, thank you."  
  
"You gonna be okay?" Minoru asked, as his friend got to his feet unsteadily. He was shocked to hear him chuckle!  
  
"Mineta, I don't think I'm going to be ever be okay, but you don't have to worry about me right now." He took a deep breath. His heart was still going a mile a minute, but his arm... his arm was still in one piece. That was something to think abut it...  
  
"Hey! Midoriya! If you and your boyfriend are done making out, we got an invasion to take care of!" Katsuki could be such an asshole, as Tsuyu, Eijiro, and Minoru all glared at him for such a comment. So did Izuku, but for a whole different reason.  
  
"Heh, baby steps, I guess." Still, they dallied long enough, they had to meet up with the others! They had to get back to the stairs!  
  
They weren't the only students that had managed to handle their villains with alacrity. Shoto Todoroki had managed to clear out his as well.  
  
"Took your sweet time there, Icyhot!" Katsuku really could be an asshole, but Shoto must have had the patience of a saint to just let the insult slide off.  
  
"Feel free to ignore Katsuki, Todoroki. You're okay, that's what matters." Izuku stated, as they came up to the center clearing. It was not what they expected! There was still an army of villains, and the leader was attacking the Tick!  
  
Shigaraki pulled his hands from the Tick's face. The tips of his fingers were going numb. This never happened before. This was not how his power was supposed to work, what he touched with all his five fingers on his hand... dissolved into nothingness! But this... idiot would not.  
  
"Something wrong, Handyman?" The Tick was laughing at him, in pained gasps, the largest smile on his face. "I said it before and I'll say it again! I AM MIGHTY! I wrap myself in my own righteous virtue and that is all that is needed to protect me!" He could really do with out the posturing. Without the bravado. He found himself sighing.  
  
"There is absolutely no way this day can get any worse then it already has." No All Might, no killing the Symbol of Peace, and from what he was seeing, his League of Villains was getting it's ass handed to it by CHILDREN! He was at least expecting a few of the children to be dead by now, but he couldn't even get that.  
  
"So... this is what I've come to see." That voice, it couldn't be... booming from over the stairs. Shigaraki turned his head, another wicked smile on his face. All Might. The Symbol of Peace.  
  
"The Symbol of Peace himself. Looks like this day is looking up after all." Though, in all fairness, it was one thing to taunt All Might when he was at the top of the stairs and you were surrounded by an veritable army.  
  
It was quite another when he leapt from the door to the center, looking all like a statue of some pagan god or tyrant of antiquity. Shigaraki admittedly felt his breath quicken, but it didn't matter. This was happening.  
  
"Noumu... kill the Symbol of Peace!" With that command, the Tick was released as the monstrous beast man charged after the Number 1 hero of all Japan!  
  
"I'll... just be down here... catching my breath." The Tick stated, released from his bonds, but not from his pain, as Noumu attacked the Symbol of Peace. And it was GLORIOUS! With Noumu's super strength, regeneration, shock absorbtion, and who knew what other quirks, there was no way that a weakened All Might could defeat Sensei's master plan, his magnum opus!  
  
The six students that had freed themselves from the clutches of the League of Villains, rounded the corner, before Izuku motioned them to stop. They could see All Might fighting the Noumu, but they could also see the dozen or so villains surrounding Aizawa-sensei too.  
  
"We have to be clever about this. Katsuki, Kirishima, Todoroki... if you can go after the villains, Asui and Mineta can grab Aizawa-sensei." He didn't want it to sound like an order, but he put a firmness into his voice, not unlike that of the Erasure Hero.  
  
"And what are you going to be doing, Midoriya?" It was so odd to hear Bakugo call him by his name, like that. Even if it wasn't friendly, but it was so much better then the other one.  
  
"I'll be going after the Tick. That man followed after Aizawa-sensei to fight these villains without a second thought. He at least deserves our help, too!" Fact was, he didn't even expect Katsuki to just go with his plan, as he watched the hot tempered youth launch himself towards the villains, Eijiro and Shoto following soon afterward. Tsuyu waited until the right moment where the villains were distracted by fresh fighters, before picking up Minoru and leaping towards their teacher!  
  
And Izuku... he ran towards the Tick, lying flat on his back. He never saw the Tick so injured, so defeated. He thought the Tick was much like All Might, a symbol in his own right.  
  
"'Ey, li'l buddy..." The Tick slurred out. "I can' feel my faaace..." But he gave a thumbs up as he slapped his own face.  
  
"You really are nigh invulnerable, aren't you?" Izuku was shaking his head, as the Tick sat up.  
  
"I told you that, already, chum! But I can't let that Mighty Man fight alone!" He got to his feet with a groan. Night invulnerable he may have been, but he still felt pain. "Step aside, Izuku. I would be a poor super hero if I let another ally in the name of justice fight such an opponent by himself!" He brushed Izuku aside, who didn't even try to stop him.  
  
Izuku took a deep breath, before turning to help the others. The Tick and All Might were the strongest heroes that he knew, personally. There was no way that they could fail again Noumu, right?  
  
Everything was hurting for Toshinori Yagi. All Might. The Symbol of Peace. He had a very strict time limit that he could be in his Hero Form, 3 or so hours, each day, and he was bleeding seconds off that time every time the Symbol of Peace fought. He was almost at that 3 hour time limit, already. Having decided to save the day all the city, which was a mistake on his part, and yet he decided to go to the USJ anyway, despite the fact he'd only be able to do so for 45 minutes.  
  
Until he ran into Tenya Iida, who told them what happened. What was happening. An invasion by villains in the USJ? With the goal to kill himself? He was not going to let this stand. But this Noumu... hit almost as hard as he did! And no matter how much harder he hit it, it seemed that Noumu would shrug it off like it was nothing!  
  
He landed another mighty blow, but this time, it seemed like Noumu flinched.  
  
"What!? That's impossible!" The man with the hands seemed upset about his super weapon having flinched, but what could have caused it.  
  
"Mighty Man, you son of a wrench! Did you really think I was going to let you fight this ne'er-do-well on your lonesome!? I say NAY!" The Tick was behind Noumu, his own mighty blow having struck exactly opposite of All Might's!  
  
"All assistance is welcome, my friend! This one is sturdier then most villains!" Vigilante the Tick may be, he wasn't going to turn down any assistance. Handyman was scratching his neck again.  
  
"Even the two of you can't defeat Noumu! You notice how you can't hurt him! He has a Shock Absorption quirk!" He was laughing maniacally. This was going to happen. He was going to do it! He was going to fulfill his destiny!  
  
"Shock absorption, you say?" All Might smiled, the same smile of the symbol of peace, before addressing the Tick. "Friend, have you ever tried to put 2 pounds of sugar into a 1 pound bag!?" The Tick nodded.  
  
"I see what you mean, Mighty Man! Between the two of us, we might just be able to go beyond his limits!" All Might let out a mighty laugh. "My thoughts exactly! PLUS ULTRA!" And with that, the two Titans of Truth traded blows with Noumu! By hitting opposite sides at the same time, they created a cascading effect devastating to the monstrous villain.  
  
Shigaraki was having a break down. This wasn't possible. He was told that All Might was weakened, but he wasn't weakened at all. He wasn't even told about the Tick and already, the vigilante had already proven to be a thorn in his side unlike any other! Shock Absorption, not Shock Dispersing!  
  
"THIS ISN'T HAPPENING!" Oh, but it was! As All Might pulled his arm back.  
  
"TEXAS...!" And landed a mighty uppercut!  
  
**"SMASH!"** And Noumu went flying... through the roof of the dome, and past the horizon.  
  
"OUTSTANDING, MIGHTY MAN!" He held up his forearm, that All Might bashed his against. "And now, for the leader of these malicious malcontents!"  
  
"He was wrong... All Might isn't weak at all!" He was twitching, he was gasping. He couldn't kill All Might... but... "Kurogiri!" But he could kill one of his students! A warp portal opened and he leapt through it, all five fingers touching the green haired child and...  
  
Nothing. Nothing happened. Not with both hands, even!  
  
"WHAT!?" He looked to his side. Eraserhead... was staring at him. No. No. Nononononono! "Then I'll just have to kill you the old fashioned way!" But before he could even do that... he had been shot. Through the wrists.  
  
They were under attack... the heroes had arrived! He had failed. He swore revenge that child, the closest target of animosity, even as the Warp Portal took him away from this fracas!  
  
_The Heroes had arrived... and the League of Villains were abandoned by their leadership. The Day was saved, but... I didn't feel it. I had confronted a monster from my past and had never felt more exposed to my friends. But All Might... All Might proved he was still the Symbol of Peace and the Tick? Well, because of his assistance in defending the students, the police were more then happy to let him make his escape._  
  
_But I did learn something about myself... about this power, I think. At the time, I wasn't sure that it was because I never hit anything or because I was so angry that I flooded my whole body. I resolved to experiment on it, but really? Really I needed to talk to someone._  
  
As the villains were being loaded into the wagon that the police had brought, Izuku Midoriya took a step off from the side, away from the other students congratulating themselves on how they handled this villain invasion. Talking about what strange villains they encountered and how they worked together to defeat them.  
  
He shook his head, pulling out his phone and making a call. "Hey... Mei? It's... It's Izuku. Are you... are you free this afternoon?"


	12. Annual 1

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA Annual #1  
  
Mei Hatsume liked to think of herself as a model student, a model citizen. It wasn't her fault that Power Loader didn't understand her pure genius! And alternate realities and Council of Mei... like she would ever team up with herself like that... again. She tried, it didn't end very well when she couldn't agree with herself on patenting rights and she scrapped the whole plan whole sale not soon after.  
  
But that wasn't here, nor there, she had to focus on her latest baby right now! Oh, Izuku Midoriya was the best! All that raw data he happily provided testing out her cuties like he did! He was like a girl's best friend, a big hearted young man willing to run into dangerous situations without any prodding from her! it was the best relationship!  
  
And then she found out that they were both going to the same school? With Izuku on the Hero Course and herself in Support, she could get even more of her babies tested! It was truly win-win!  
  
And then she discovered that Izuku Midoriya, the dorky kid with the big blue idiot had some how honed himself into a lean cut of man beef... the screwdriver she was working with slipped and almost stripped a screw, as she blushed madly. She really shouldn't think about her friend like that. Even if it was true, especially if it was true.  
  
What she really should think about was what Izuku's quirk was. The amont of stress he was placing on her babies was immense and when they first met, she was almost sure that he didn't have a strength enhancement quirk at all, given the fact that he did the Tick do most of the fighting.  
  
Once again, neither here nor there. No, the current focus of her ire was that Power Loader said that no, he wasn't going to authorize some radical procedure to give her an extra two set of arms. Making it a priority that no one in the support track radically alters their phenotype! Psshaw! She was going to make them detachable! He was stifling her genius and creativity! She could just imagine what she could do with an extra two sets of arms and how many more babies she could make!  
  
But with a sigh, she put down her latest cute baby and set down her tools. She was getting worked up over her frustration. She was just going to take a step back, walk around the room, then tackle the issue she was working from a different angle. Especially since Power Loader went and excused himself. She could only wonder what was so important he had to leave...  
  
Oh well, she walked her paces, she sorted out her thoughts, and she was about ready to tackle her problem when her phone rang. She let out a sigh, she rolled her eyes and grabbed the phone to see who would bother her when she was working! Caller ID showed that it was Izuku Midoriya. Oooh! He was probably going to give her so many more ideas for cute babies!  
  
'Hey, Mei?' He sounded exhausted. 'It's... it's Izuku. Are you... are you free this afternoon?' He sounded awful.  
  
"Yeah, sure. Where do you want to meet?" She was frowning. Izuku was a good friend. Her best friend, probably. She could still remember that night, a couple years ago, when he and the Tick came sweeping in, rescuing both her and her parents. But he sounded miserable... what could possibly have happened to him?  
  
'We'll be coming back to the campus in... half an hour? Are you still at school?' Mei looked around, she was the last one to leave the the work shop. She loved having all these extra tools and equipment and materials.  
  
"Yeah, I can be there."  
  
35 minutes later, she was waiting there as Izuku came... stumbling. No, he wasn't stumbling, he was walking heavily, shambling like a zombie from a horror movie.  
  
"Izuku!" She ran over to him, just in time for him to collapse into her arms. "... are you okay?" He looked absolutely awful, as she fell with him to the soft grass in their embrace. They were both on their knees and she had her arms wrapped around him, his own lying limply at his side. He was in the other costume she helped work on, hood down as he rested his head on her shoulder.  
  
"No, no I am not okay." He wasn't crying, but it seemed more... like he was using her as a crutch. Not that she blamed him, she must have been his oldest friend, it's probably why he wanted IM or SMS here anytime he got a chance.  
  
"Do you want to talk about it?" What else was she going to ask? He was obviously in pain, he was physically, mentally, and emotionally. And he talked about what happened. A special field trip for the class 1-A. And how they got interrupted by a group called the League of Villains. And what he almost did.  
  
"..." Mei was speechless. They were lying on the grass. She didn't know what was more unbelievable. That Izuku Midoriya had it in himself to be so angry that he would almost kill anyone or that Minoru Mineta would have been the one to talk him down from it. "Izuku, this is more then just about what happened out there, isn't it?"  
  
"It's everything. I feel like I'm being pulled apart at the seams in two directions. I'm training to be a hero, just like I always wanted to be since I was a child... but I'm also an illegal vigilante, going out night after night fighting criminals that most heroes would just over look and..." He let out a sigh, he didn't want Mei to worry about this issue.  
  
"And then you met the man that killed your father and something in you broke and all you  
could do was find some kind of sharp relief for your pain." She shook her head. "Izuku, let me tell you something. Mineta was right, about you, Izuku. You saved me and my parents. If you weren't a vigilante, who knows what could have happened to me. I'm not saying to just get over it, but if you ever have a problem, Izuku... you can always always always talk to me, okay?"  
  
He didn't want to just tell her thank you, it seemed so basic. The sun was starting to set, and he was still in costume and he turned his head to look at Mei, it was getting late. "Hey, Mei... do you... want to get some dinner?" She gave a chuckle.  
  
"Like a date?" She asked, with a smile, her bright yellow eyes looking into his deep green ones. He sputtered and blushed, quickly sitting up.  
  
"No, no, no! It... It doesn't have to be a date!" He was stuttering and sputtering, only stopping when Mei put an arm around his shoulder.  
  
"Hey, don't take everything to seriously. I'd love to get a bite to eat... just let me change out my work gear and I'll meet you at the gates?" She gave a wink, before heading out to change back into her school uniform. This could've gone a lot worse, and Izuku had to do much of the same.  
  
"Good job, Izuku... you're still too easy to tease." He said to his mirror image in the locker room. It's not that he didn't think Mei was cute, quite the opposite! But she was practically his best friend if only because he had closed himself off from so many people for so long. And honestly, it looked like Katsuki was... well, still a jerk, but he was slowly coming around.  
  
A quick shower and change, and he was headed out to the gates of the school, where of course, Mei Hatsume was waiting for him.  
  
"So, Izuku, what were you thinking about dinner? There's this place I know that's open late, long as you don't mind burgers and fries." That didn't sound so bad. Cheap, filling... maybe a bit too greasy, but it wasn't like he couldn't work it off anyway.  
  
"That's fine, Mei." It didn't occur to Izuku that it was possible for Mei to have an underhanded, ulterior motive. Oh, yes, the pace she suggested was open late. As was the arcade across the street. To which she dragged him after they were finished eating, but not before she managed to get a refil.  
  
"C'mon, Izuku. It'll be fun. Maybe if you're lucky, I'll win a prize for you." She had her hand encircled around Izuku's wrist. They were practically holding hands!  
  
"Wait, s-shouldn't I be the one w-winning a prize f-for you?" He was stuttering again. He shouldn't, not around Mei. He could stutter around Ochako and Itsuka, he didn't know them as long as he did Mei.  
  
"If this was a date, which you said it was certainly not." She certainly had him there. And it had been a while since he just went to an arcade. Pinball tables, arcade cabinets, even the games that gave away tickets for prizes.  
  
Mei was quite impressive at the light gun game _Snipe! III_ , but she was the one with the Zoom quirk. On the other hand, she was impressed to see Izuku beat _Hero Fighter V_ all on a single credit. He blushed as he explained to the crowd watching him.  
  
"I played a lot of Hero Fighter when I was growing up." This was true, video games was something he didn't have to talk to use. Those horrible years when he was non-verbal, but he always responded to All Might, who was featured prominently in the _Hero Fighter_ series. Still, all these people surrounding him was making him uncomfortable. Sensing such, Mei pulled him away and they hit the some more of the games.  
  
Still, it was... he was enjoying himself, but he'd have to head on home soon anyway. He walked with Mei to the train station. It felt weird that she was holding his hand... really holding his hand. He felt like their relationship was moving fast, but... best friends held hands, too, right? Right?  
  
Right as the train came into the station, Mei took him into a hug. "Hey, Izuku, I want you to know... you're my hero." And she kissed him... right on the forehead, before boarding her train home. As for Izuku... he wasn't sure what was going on... he felt eight feet tall and ready to take on the world! For the first time today, his steps were light... for the first time in a long time, he felt a weight off of his shoulders, as he walked home.  
  
Perhaps this hero thing could and would work out in the end. And perhaps... perhaps high school could only get better?


	13. Issue 12

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue #12  
  
_I felt like I was walking on air all the way home. I... I never thought about Mei that way before, but... we had only chatted via text or over he phone, never face to face. I think I was still getting over the fact that my best friend had turned... for lack of a better word, gorgeous. Girls like that weren't interested in dorky guys like me. Besides, I had other things to occupy my mind with._  
  
Izuku Midoriya could barely sleep that night. He had a lot on his mind. He only told his mother that there was an incident during a field trip at school, but the teachers managed to handle it. He didn't want to think what would have happened if she found out about Jacknife, she worried about him enough as it was. He couldn't even sleep, that aching feeling of hatred still throbbing inside of him.  
  
It still hurt inside, a dull ache of pain and misery. His friends learned something about him that he kept buried, that he wanted to keep buried. Regret and disappointment were there, too. Mostly in himself for losing sight of who he was, what he was trying to do. He was a hero, and heroes don't go for personal revenge like that. They don't behave in cruel, vindictive ways.  
  
He looked over at the clock beside his bed. 2:00 flashing in his eyes in harsh red numbering. The USJ incident wasn't the only thing keeping him awake. There were... other things, as well. He felt so light coming home, after hanging out with Mei. She... she really was his best friend and he wasn't sure what to do. Much as he tried to deny it, last night was a date. She held his hand, she even gave him a kiss. He should... talk to her about that.  
  
Tomorrow, if he got a chance. Right now, he wanted to focus on getting some sleep, any kind of sleep. But before that... he grabbed his phone, and sent Mei a text, asking to meet her by the school gates tomorrow. With that text sent, he finally managed to get some semblance of sleep.  
  
The next morning, was literally day and night. A somewhat good night's sleep plus the activities the night before went a long way to improve his mood. His step was light, as if he was walking on air. The walk passed quickly, and just as he asked... Mei Hatsume was waiting for him at the school gates. The girl with the yellow cross hair eyes yawned at he approached.  
  
"Mornin' Izuku. I almost didn't see your text this morning...!" She didn't expect him to hug her right then and there like that.  
  
"Mei, you're my best friend, and... and I'm willing to take a chance and see if it could work! If we could work! And I know I said it wasn't a date last night but I thought about it and I really want it to be a date and..." He was going a mile a minute with what he was saying. He could be such a dork sometimes.  
  
"Izuku! Breathe! Use that brain of yours, okay?" There was a pause... a moment where it was just him and her and the hug they were sharing.  
  
"Will you go out with me?" It was a flat question, not exactly what she expected from her friend, who was so smart yet sometimes so dumb.  
  
"Yeah, yeah I think I'd like that, actually." She replied.  
  
"I mean, I know I'm not tall, dark, and handsome, but I really like you and you really like me...!"  
  
"Izuku!"  
  
"And we click together so well and I know this is a risk, but it's a risk I'm willing to make if you are...!"  
  
"Izuku, you dork, I already said yes!" He started to sputter, looks like he didn't think that she'd say yes without much convincing.  
  
"Thank you, Mei... I just... thank you." He held her tight, before letting her go. It was odd, over the last couple of years, he felt happy and joy... but perhaps, was this elation?  
  
"I'll see you at lunch, Izuku. In Support, 15 minutes early is late!" He waved off his... best friend? His girlfriend? He wasn't even sure what to call it now, he was just going to make it work.  
  
"Ah, to be young and in love! Truly, something I wish I too could experience!" he was shocked out of his revelry by the voice of the principal. Looking around, he found Principal Nedzu, standing a few feet to the side, the short suit wearing mouse sipping on a to-go cup of tea.  
  
"How... how long were you there, Principal Nedzu?" He felt his cheeks and ears burn with a mad blush.  
  
"I've been here the entire time. It's a benefit of being a cute furry animal, I suppose. Everyone overlooks you!" he finished his tea with a laugh. "Typically, it isn't until after the first week of school that the confessions start to happen, so congratulations Mister Midoriya on beating out the rush. Please, walk with me." He started heading towards the school proper.  
  
"Classes start soon and I don't really..." He was cut off by the principal.  
  
"Don't worry, I've already told Aizawa that you'll be talking with me. This is important and it's pertinent to your future, your education, and your future here at this grand institution." That was all he needed to hear to follow the principal. They were probably going to talk about... well... they were probably going to talk about his activities as the Aphid.  
  
"First, I would like to congratulate you. You did a very good job the other day in keeping a stampede from happening within the halls, quite mature of you. And yesterday, when you asked Mister Iida to run back to the school after the League of Villains invaded, I'm sure he was not happy, but if not for him, who knows how long it would have taken the faculty to respond?" Iida might not have liked it, but it was the right call to make. No one else could have made it back to UA in time to alert anyone, no one else would have been able to escape.  
  
"It was a good strategy. Iida may have been unhappy about abandoning us, but he wasn't. He was saving all of us. All I had to do was protect the class until help could arrive." The principal nodded at Izuku's reasoning.  
  
"True, very true. The so called League of Villains had almost 100 members, not counting their leader and the user of that warp quirk. It appears he abandoned all his soldiers, just like that." Well, they were villains, what did he expect?  
  
"And of those captured members, other then Noumu, who seemed unresponsive and nonreactive and despite having given All Might quite the fight, was rather docile, the only other one of any note was the fact that the Jacknife was the only one with a true body count. And was almost beaten to death." The furry rat... dog... weasel looked at Izuku. "And just wouldn't you know, apparently there's a history between you and Jacknife."  
  
"That's one way of putting it." That weight that Izuku was so glad to be rid of... he could feel it returning, little bit by little bit.  
  
"Yes, I suppose it is. Now, no one is going to fault you for attacking your father's murderer, but here at UA we like to try and set the industry standard when it comes to professional heroics. They do not include personal grudges, no matter how severe."  
  
"Am I being expelled?" Izuku asked, flatly. If he was to be honest with himself, Jacknife could have died and he wouldn't have shed a tear for that monster.  
  
"Oh, heaven's no. That wouldn't correct the problem. Particularly that you were willing to use almost the entirety of One for All to turn Jacknife into a pile of bloody gelatin." He looked to Izuku, chuckling at the look at his face as he realized what the principal had said. "Yes, it's true, I know about All Might's secret and that you are his chosen successor. And that, Mister Midoriya, is why you must be better."  
  
"I'm not going to apologize for letting my emotions get the better of me when presented with the monster that butchered my father in front of me."  
  
"And no one expects you too. Mister Midoriya, what you faced yesterday no amount of schooling or therapy or counseling can prepare you for. Had you even succeeded, we would have had no choice but to pull you from class, but there would still be the issue of all the power inside of you. And the last thing I would want to ask of you is to be a place holder until someone else came along." He patted Izuku on the back of the knee. "Be thankful. In your short time here, you managed to make friends with people who not only trust you, but are capable of reading you and understanding when you are not yourself. That is a rare gift at this age and one you should cherish."  
  
"Would that be all sir?" This was starting to get uncomfortable. The principal seemed to have a knack for picking apart every defense Izuku had managed to build up in the last 10 years.  
  
"No. I know what you're thinking, when we made that announcement on the first day and there was the call for the Aphid Hunt. That we're punishing you for being a vigilante and nothing could be further from the truth. In all honesty, we were hoping that the Aphid Hunt would cause students in the freshman year to mix outside their courses with a common goal, as well as dissuade you from going out on your nightly jaunts with the Tick."  
  
"You really thought that I would let something like that keep me from being a hero?" He could see the logic in what the principal and the teachers were thinking, but... Izuku wasn't going to let even a minute threat to his safety like this stop him from helping the helpless.  
  
"In hindsight, that is exactly what the thinking was. Speaking of, I was hoping you could thank the Tick for us. If he hadn't shown up when he did, who knows what could have happened to you all? Anyway, I've taken up enough your time, head back to class." With that, Principal Nedzu headed back to his office, leaving Izuku standing in the hall way, before he shook his head and headed to class, he still had five minutes before the bell, he could still make it.  
  
Only to find Katsuki Bagkugo waiting for him outside the door. He didn't need this, this early in the morning. As expected, as he tried to enter the classroom, Katsuki stopped him.  
  
"Why?" Was all the red eyed blonde asked him. What the hell kind of question was that?  
  
"I'm not even going to pretend to understand what your asking, Katsuki... just let me in." Bakugo shook his head. He wanted an answer to something.  
  
"Why didn't you tell me? You were my best friend, Midoriya! To find out that you basically treated me like a villain for two years? That's unacceptable!" Really? That's what he was upset about? Sure, he was traumatized, and maybe he wasn't ready for regular school, but it was his fault that's what that stupid nickname that Katsuki gave him meant?  
  
"Treat... treating you like a villain? Katsuki, I don't know if you were paying much attention in middle school, but you -were- a villain! Now, if you'll excuse me..." He ducked under Katsuki's arm, getting to his desk, and leaving the blonde standing right outside of class, stunned.  
_  
Perhaps my words were a bit harsh for Katsuki, but he couldn't be so hypocritical that he was blaming his bullying of me on me! He couldn't look back at middle school and see that his behavior was anything but that of a villain, and if he could, he was more petty and egotistical then I thought he ever could be and he wasn't going to last in this program long._


	14. Issue 13

The Tick vs MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue #13  
  
Katsuki Bakugo stood stunned for several seconds, as Izuku Midoriya managed to take advantage of it and duck in the classroom, Midoriya's words echoing in Kastsuki's head.  
  
_"You -were- a villain!"_ He really wasn't a bad guy. He was going to be the Number 1 hero! He was going to surpass All Might! There was nothing wrong with his behavior in middle school...!  
  
_'Dammit, Deku! When are you going to get it through your fucking skull that I'm the only one that can go to UA from this shit hole of a school!'_ That was for his own good! Side characters need to realize they were extras!  
  
_'Hey, gimme all the change in your pockets and I won't blow you up.'_ ... ... ... that was like one time and he forgot his lunch.  
  
_'WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU SAY ABOUT ME, ASSHOLE!?'  
  
'Nothing in life is free, nerd! So dance until I tell ya to stop!'   
  
'Ease up? On Deku? That fucking loser who after coming back abandons us? Fat fucking chance!'  
  
'Don't lump me in with the rest of these losers, teach! I'm the only one here with a quirk that's work a damn!'  
  
'Or what? You'll stretch your eyeballs out at me? Fuck off!'  
  
'C'mon, fatty. I'll show you what happens when you cut in line for the last cupcake!'_ ... ... ... that last one was when he was six. He couldn't... he was just...  
  
"Have I really been a bastard this whole time...?" He asked himself, quietly. "... no! Midoriya's wrong! I'm a fucking hero and I'll show him even if I have to shove his fucking face in it!"  
  
_Aizawa announced that we would be heading back to the USJ, after Thirteen was cleared from their concussion and minor repairs were made to the compound. Probably fixing the hole the Tick made when he crashed in and the hole Noumu made when All Might sent him flying out of the dome.  
  
It did mean that we were going to have a rather normal class schedule. Math with Ectoplasm. Literature with Cemantoss. Lunch with friends. English with Present Mic. Quirk Theory with Aizawa-sensei. Though, it was odd that Katsuki didn't confront me about what I had said. I thought he must've been really mad to not go off on me._  
  
Lunch was a reprieve from the lessons. Especially literature with Cemantoss, the pro-hero was a bit... dry when it came to his lectures and even Izuku found it hard to stay awake during them. Also he would be meeting back up with Mei... it was... she was still his best friend, but now she was his girlfriend, too? He hadn't told any of the others yet. And there was something else that was bothering him...  
  
"Shinsou, my curiosity has been piqued, but why didn't you try to group with your friends in 1-C?" Izuku asked, as they waited for the rest to join them. Hitoshi Shinsou looked at him, with that same neutral dead fish look he gave everyone.  
  
"Because I don't. You tell people that you have a quirk like Brainwashing, and they thing of you a villain. Girls won't talk to me because they thing I'll take advantage of them. Everyone thinks I'm some creepy mastermind, ready to break everyone's mind and bend it to my will." He clenched his fists in a way that Izuku was all too familiar with.  
  
"It's why I wanted to go to UA. To show I wasn't some villain in the making. That I could be a hero. And then they mention that the practical exam is robots. I can't ever have nice things. What good is brainwashing when it can't effect a silicon mind? So I decided to then go General Studies. The last bastion of the hopeless and the rejects. If I do well in the Sports Festival, I might be promoted, but then they announced the Aphid Hunt and I knew... I knew this was my chance." He slammed his fists onto the table.  
  
"I am MIGHTY! That's what he said on the television! But he didn't mention a damn thing about his super strength or his invulnerability." He slapped his chest. "He was talking about his heart! He was talking to me, as I watched the morning news, eating breakfast! He told me that I could be a hero! Other then the seven of you, the Tick is the only one that believes in me!" He sat back down. The occupants of nearby tables were looking over to them. He didn't even have the propriety to blush, but that was okay, Izuku was embarrassed for the both of them.  
  
"So... you think the best way to be a hero... is to go and expose the Tick's sidekick... the same Tick that's inspired you to go out and take your place as a hero? Doesn't that seem..." His voice trailed off. In all actuality, the Tick probably wouldn't mind at all.  
  
"It would be my sin to bear." Was the flat reply, creeeeeepy. Thankfully, the rest soon managed to join them. The more Izuku learned about Hitoshi, the more he realized that he had to worry about him. Denki, Minoru, Itsuka, and Ochako? He could probably convince them not to go for it. Tenya would be a bit more difficult, but he could appear to the bespectacled boy's better nature. Of course, he and Mei were... something he still couldn't quite believe. But Hitoshi and himself? There was no connection, he didn't know Hitoshi, just that the boy was hungry and desperate to be a hero, a feeling he could sympathize with.  
  
"So I've been thinking..." Minoru spoke up, breaking up Izuku's revelry. "Looking over the evidence that Iida and Shinsou have gathered and uploaded, we're looking for someone that is highly intelligent and extremely motivated." He ticked off his points with his fingers.  
  
"And with less sense then the gods gave a goose." Itsuka added. "I've seen that video of Tick's fight with Endeavor. Aphid ran right into a hellflame spear. He was lucky it didn't kill him."  
  
"Maybe... maaaaybe it did!" Denki exclaimed. "Maybe it did kill Aphid and the current Aphid is his clone or twin or maybe the Tick has a corrall full of sidekicks ready to take the last one's place!" Everyone looked at him. He looked back at everyone else. "I might have sparked off my brain during that literature lecture..." He sunk down into his seat.  
  
"Come to think of it, Midoriya..." Uraraka was tapping her cheek. "You have the same habit. Running into danger like that." Izuku felt like he was sweating bullets, beats of perspiration pulling from his forehead.  
  
"Nah, can't be Midoriya. He's too much of a good guy to go about breaking the law like that." Thank goodness for Minoru. Tenya nodded in his agreement.  
  
"Agreed. Midoriya... president... while you're more then eager to bend rules, I've yet to see you break them."  
  
"I know we only talk during lunch, Midoriya, so maybe I don't know you as well as your classmates, but... you come off as rather ordinary." Wow, they thought he was a real stick in the mud.  
  
"I disagree." The only voice of dissent was Hitoshi. "Midoriya is hungry. He wants to be a hero. It's the same look I see in the mirror." Did he have more then one facial expression?  
  
"No, of all the people here, you're the most likely to be a vigilante. To not let the world tell you no. To go out and do whats right. But you're not Aphid. I can't imagine you putting up with the Tick's eccentricities."  
  
Izuku let out a breath he didn't know he was holding in. At least his friends were dissuaded for now. And almost as if on cue, Mei showed up.  
  
"Ladies, gentlemen!" She looked over to Izuku. "Izuku." And gave her a wink. He raised an eyebrow. She was singling him out, sure... they were... well, she said yes that morning, he was still having to come to terms that this was a thing that was happening. She sat down next to him and then planted a small kiss right on his cheek.  
  
Everything at the table stopped.  
  
"Dude... is, is there something you want to tell us?" Minoru asked, as Izuku did his best impression of a tomato. Mei, for her part chuckled.  
  
"Oh, I guess Izuku didn't get a chance to tell you, but...!" She was cut off by Ochako.  
  
"You're dating!? Al... already? But it's barely been a week...!" She was cut off by Mei's laughter, as the pinkette put an arm around Izuku's shoulder.  
  
"Sorry, but me and Izuku have known each other for quite a while! And we just decided to... see if we couldn't give this a try. Isn't that right?" Izuku could only weakly nod. He was trying to hide as best he could, but Mei was sitting right next to him and she had her arm around his shoulder and this was really happening. It was really real! He didn't even notice that Ochako sucked in a breath, or the wet look of her eyes.  
  
"I... I see." Was Ochako's reply, as she looked down.  
  
"Enough about our Love Life! I got something to show you all!" It was a list that she pulled out of her uniform jacket. "After many hours of reviewing video featuring the Tick and the Aphid, I have made a list of what I suspect are support items to assist them!" She handed out a copy to each team member.  
  
Under Aphid it mentioned what she thought were the capabilties of his costume. Notable mentions were the sneakers Aphid wore, which included a jump assist function, a frictionless skate function, and probably some form of shock absorber for when he landed. It was quite the same for the rest of his costume, sans mask as any functions they may or may not have had might not be obvious.  
  
As for the Tick, it was just a series of question marks and obnoxious shrugging emoticons.  
  
"This is quite thorough, Hatsume... and this is all guesswork?" Tenya asked, looking over the list. Mei let out another short laugh.  
  
"Guesswork is for lesser mortals! An inventor of my caliber can easily recognize the work of another genius, even if they're not quite as smart as me! They might do good work, but they're nothing like my super cute babies!" Mei was beaming proudly!  
  
"Midoriya, doesn't you costume have similar capabilities?" Ochako asked, as she read over the list. "You have spider pads in your gloves, too. And I've seen you zip around and you mentioned a skate function..." Izuku started to think of something, anything that could explain this.  
  
"Pffft. Please. We're looking at an obvious case of multiple discovery and simultaneous invention. The person that designed Aphid's gear was only less brilliant then me! And I helped design all of Izuku's gear!" Yes, that was not in the least big a hackneyed explanation from the pinkette.  
  
"Multiple discovery? Simultaneous invention?" Hitoshi wasn't buying it, head in hand, elbow on table.  
  
"Of course!" Mei had a counter! "Calculus was formulated independently by both Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. The crossbow was invented independently all over the world at the same time! Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace both theorized evolution!"  
  
"It is... unusual, but with Aphid operating in Midoriya's hometown, he obviously took some inspiration from the Vigilante's gear for his own heroic career." Tenya summarized.  
  
"Yes, yes! That is exactly what happened!" Izuku agreed heartily, nodding his head enthusiastically. Hitoshi was looking at me, that same neutral look on his face.  
  
"Hn. Okay." And that, as they say, was that. They continued to discuss Mei's discovery of the Aphid's equipment. The current theory was that Aphid wouldn't be so foolish as to have their costume at school, but they might have a lead. If Mei could duplicate the gear, they could get an idea of what materials were used and how they were made! It was beginning to seem like Aphid might just be in the Support department.  
  
Still, lunch was soon over, and as they went back to their classes, Izuku stayed behind with Mei.  
  
"I'm... I want to apologize, Mei. I'm still getting used to... you know... us." Izuku told her when the rest were gone. He got slapped in the shoulder for his troubles.  
  
"I get it. I'm your first girlfriend. I'm also your best friend. I know you too well, Izuku, for you to offend me at this point." She did tap a finger to her chin. "But perhaps I laid it on a bit too thick. Oh well." She gave him a hug. "I'll see you after school, Izuku!"  
  
And with that, they parted ways. Lunch was over.  
  
_I felt like I had dodged a bullet, back there. About how much of the Aphid's costume capabilities and my own were similar. I wished I paid more attention. Hitoshi Shinsou had nothing to lose and nearly everything to gain. It made him dangerous. And Ochako Uraraka... the last thing I wanted to do was hurt her._


	15. Issue 14

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue #14  
  
_I think Quirk Theory was quickly turning into my favorite class. I liked how a lot of the quirk analysis was what if scenarios. It also allowed me to understand what other quirks my classmates had. I also really needed to stop muttering, as the class soon devolved into everyone wanting me to analyze their quirks. Well, almost everyone._  
  
Katsuki still wasn't talking to me, but to be honest? I didn't want to talk to him.  
  
Izuku Midoriya wasn't sure what to thing right now. He was staring at his cellphone and it was full of contacts. There was the group he ate lunch with and now he added in just about the rest of 1-A to his contact list. It was... confusing. This was probably the most friends he ever had and he wasn't sure what to think about it.  
  
And yet was shaken from his revelry when he was tackled.  
  
"Oooph!" He almost tripped and fell, turning to see his would be assailant. "Jeeze, Mei..." He let out a bit of a sigh.  
  
"Hey, Izuku. I was thinkin'... but first, you want to give me a kiss? Right here?" She was pointing to her cheek. How bad could it be? She was... gosh, she was his girlfriend now. It was going to be difficult to say that, because it still felt so strange saying it.  
  
"S-sure!" He was blushing, but it was just a little kiss on the cheek. He could do that! She kissed him twice in the last two days? How hard could it be. He could do this! He was determined! Closing his eyes, he moved in. He didn't see that at the last moment, Mei shifted her head and their lips met!  
  
He pulled back as quick as he could, the blush burning on his face. "M-M-Mei!" He stammered out, that was unexpected. Not entirely unwanted, but... She winked at him with one of her yellow eyes.  
  
"Are you doing anything tonight?" She asked. Well, he was probably going to go out with the Tick tonight. The Big Blue Bug of Justice could get... erratic without Izuku's guiding hand.  
  
"Dinner with my mom, then I'll probably go out and... you know." He wasn't about to flat out state what his intentions were. Not so close to school... not when another freshman could overhear him.  
  
"Great! What're we having?"  
  
"Oh, probably katsud-! What? We?!" Was she? She couldn't just invite herself over like that! Could she?  
  
"Hey, Izuku... you're my best friend, you're more then that, you're my first friend, too. And now, you're my boyfriend. I want to meet your mom, okay?" Well, that did make sense.  
  
"Alright, then. We may as well surprise her." His mother was in for a hell of a shock, as they headed back to his home. "Just... be thoughtful before you ask a question." He didn't anounce himself when he entered, seeing his mother sitting on the couch. Inko Midoriya was a sleight woman in casual business suit, her feet on the coffee table.  
  
"Hey, Mom... how was work?" Izuku finally said, as he and Mei removed their shoes.  
  
"It was fine, Izuku honey... just..." She let out a sigh, as he fiddled with a medallion around her neck. "Tiring, but it usually is." She finally looked up and gave a start.  
  
"Izuku! You didn't tell me you brought company!" Izuku let out a laugh, gulped, and put his arm around Mei's shoulders.  
  
"Sorry, Mom! I didn't mean to surprise you, but this is Mei Hatsume... and uh... she's my girlfriend." He was blushing and he was laughing and he was just... looking at him.  
  
"A girlfriend? That..." She didn't know what to say. "Oh, my baby is growing up!" She was hugging him and she was crying. Izuku hugged his mother back, he never saw her so happy. Mei did feel a bit awkward, looking around. She noticed a jar on a shelf, filled with silver medallions. To Thine Own Self Be True were written up on it, in English at that, as she peaked with her quirk. The same thing written on the medallion around her neck. The same thing written on a series of five bronze medallions in a frame.  
  
She was curious, but... Izuku did say to be careful about asking his mother about anything. Still, their hug ended and Inko said she was going to whip up some Katsudon for the three of them.  
  
"Izuku... I want you to know I love you, baby." Inko told him, before she left into the kitchen. "And you're father would be so proud of you." He felt his eyes go wet.  
  
"I know." He said, looking down as his mother started dinner and he collapsed onto the couch, Mei joining him.  
  
"You alright, Izuku?" They were close and she had an arm around her shoulder. He nodded, wiping his eyes.  
  
"I'm fine. I just... my dad died when I was young and I barely remember him." That wasn't true. He had one strong memory of his father, and he didn't like thinking about it at all.  
  
"I... I'm so sorry, Izuku. I didn't know." She planted a kiss right behind the corner of his eye, as he closed both of them... cradled in the arms of... his best friend? His girlfriend? It still sounded so weird.  
  
"There's nothing to be sorry for, Mei. You didn't know, I didn't tell you."  
  
Dinner was a simple affair. Katsudon, Izuku's favorite... and he couldn't help but slip further and further into his chair as his mother told embarrassing stories of his childhood. Or at least the only ones that were worth telling to others.  
  
It was... almost normal. He was with his mother and his... girlfriend. The more he said it, the more right it felt. Still, soon it was getting late and if Mei was going to make the train, she would have to leave. Ever the gentleman, Izuku escorted her to the station.  
  
"Your mom's a real sweetheart, Izuku." Mei stated, as they waited for the approaching train.  
  
"Yeah, I know. She's been doing really great lately." With the train pulling up, he gave Mei another hug. And then, he took a risk and kissed her. Not a sweet chaste kiss on the cheek or a quick peck on the lips, but a real kiss, but too quick for either of their liking. They both let out a breath they were holding and they were both blushing.  
  
"I'll... see you at school, Izuku." Mei said, as their embrace was finished.  
  
"Yeah, I'll see you there, Mei."  
  
An hour later, and Izuku was the Aphid! Tossing a would be mugger over his shoulder in a hip toss, the knife in his hand clattering to the ground. He was in his element!  
  
"Have no fear, citizen!" He was speaking from the diaphragm, his voice carrying. "Where ever grease stains of evil wind up, you'll find the power cleaner of justice to remove it!" 'What the hell am I saying?' He had spent too much time with the Tick. Too too too much time, as he leapt to the rooftops.  
  
It was different doing the vigilante business on his own. Normally the Tick always came to him, but... they were partners, he wasn't a sidekick. They both served a part.  
  
He leapt from rooftop to rooftop! A burglar here, a mugger there. A carjacking! People with strong quirks either became heroes or they became villains or criminals. There were too many of the latter and not enough of the former.  
  
Though, there was... ironically, an uptick in Vigilante activity. The speech the Tick gave affected more then just his classmates. Though, they had yet to run into any other vigilante. It didn't matter. More people going out and being righteous in the name of justice, no matter the origin, was a good thing in Izuku's book.  
  
A leap from the roof tops, land on the sidewalk, leap across the street grabbing the jaywalker before he gets hit by the car, leap back to the rooftops.  
  
Being a mysterious masked man of mystery had it's advantages. And quick saves like that were the best! They made for amazing fodder on the forums and the chans and sometimes, it was just better to be quick about it. The Tick had to be some where around here. He rarely left Mustafu and not without him.  
  
It was just the way they did things! They were like... peanut butter and chocolate like that! You couldn't have one with out the other. Well, you could. They were still great on their own, but together? They were amazing!  
  
"Dammit, Tick. Where the heck are you?" He was looking everywhere for him, and for a seven foot tall, 400 pound man with super strength and nigh invulnerability, he was rather difficult to find.  
  
But then he finally did! It was always the last place you look. Quite literally for Izuku. Ironically, it was one of the first places they went too on his first night out, near that first Yakuza hide out.  
  
"Oh, hey champ! Sorry I didn't call. I got way laid. Had the most amazing chat with my new pal, here! C'mon, Sport! Say hello to Aphid." The Tick practically shoved the other in front of Aphid and his eyes went wide.  
  
That dead fish neutral look. Purple hair. Hitoshi Shinsou.  
  
"Well, I didn't think it would be this easy. I didn't think this would work. What are the chances." The corner of his mouth turned up in a smirk, as Aphid bit the inside of his cheek. If he responded and then Hitoshi used his quirk on him and it was all over. He didn't know it would be this quick. They were just talking about lunch about this and...  
  
This is what he meant, then. His sin to bear...  
  
"Well, do you have nothing to say, Aphid? I had the most wonderful conversation with the Tick. He opened my eyes about a lot of things, but... it was you I wanted to meet the most!"  
  
Aphid could taste blood in his mother, as he kept biting his cheek. How long could he keep this up? Without revealing himself through his behavior?  
  
"C'mon, lad, it's rude to ignore him. He climbed all the way up top her just to talk to us, and you're not even going to reply?" The Tick was frowning. He never frowned. Not like that.  
  
"Yeah, Aphid... can't even answer me?" He couldn't. He knew what would happen. But... perhaps...  
  
"Please, don't...!" He felt it, that loss of control, he was under Hitoshi Shinsou's quirk! He could only hope that Hitoshi's heroic nature will win out!  
  
**< \--- To Be Continued!**


	16. Issue 16

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA Issue #15  
  
**EARLIER...!**  
  
His sin to bear, that's what Hitoshi Shinsou called it. The Tick was his inspiration, that was the greatest speech on the nature of heroism that he had ever seen. He couldn't believe that the news would just broadcast it the way they did. He had seen the speeches of the Top Ten heroes, and none of them compared to what the Tick had said.  
  
He wanted to prove that he wasn't a villain so much. That he could be a hero, and no one had believed he could be, believed in him. But he thought... that speech... the Tick may as well had been addressing him! Telling him powers didn't matter, just as long as he had the heart of a hero, he could be a hero!  
  
He had to meet, he was so desperate to meet the Tick, that he told his parents he was staying over with some friends for a study session and wouldn't be home that night. Not that he had any friends. Sure, the people he ate lunch with were nice enough, but six of them were in the Hero Course. They were the competition. They had a quirk that could fight a robot, they didn't have the same drive, the same hunger to prove themselves.  
  
Which was why he was in Mustafu. The place where the Tick and Aphid were known to reside. He was going to go into the Hero Department, hook or by crook. The Tick consistently traveled by roof top, so that's where he had to be! That's where he had to go!  
  
By the time he reached the top, his arms burned, his chest burned, he was having second thoughts. If he was going to be a hero, he needed to reforge his body, burn away the dross and impurities. ... and he probably should have started last year, at that.  
  
"Hey, Sport? You alright there? You look like you just ran a marathon on your hands!" And standing above him... was the Tick. How lucky could he get?  
  
"I'm fine." Hitoshi replied, still yet to sit up, laying there prone, breathing heavily.  
  
"If you say so, kiddo. So what brings you up to the roofs? You don't normally see the average citizen on the rooftop express way!" He was just like on the television. Loud. Boisterous. Brilliant.  
  
"I wanted to meet you. You and Aphid. You..." He finally caught his breath and sat up. "I saw that speech and it... it inspired me. I want to be... I want to be a hero. I want to show everyone that I'm not a villain." He looked away. "My quirk... it's really not the power of a hero."  
  
"Pfffft... powers schmowers! You know, one of the Top Heroes in America doesn't have any powers! Does she let that stop her from being the most patriotic domestic? No! Why, if it wasn't for American Maid, I doubt I would have been able to stop Chairface from carving his name into the moon!" He clapped his hands together. "So say it with me! Powers schmowers!"  
  
"I'm... sorry?" He had read that the Tick was... eccentric, but to actually be facing the Big Blue Bug of Justice but they were interrupted by someone else hopping on the roof. The Aphid!  
  
**Now...!**  
  
He did it... he actually did it! He had the Aphid under the control of his power. All he had to do was tell the Aphid to take off his mask and he would be a shoe in for the heroics course!  
  
_'Please, don't...!'_ That was still echoing in his head, though. That final pleading response from the vigilante. He wanted to prove that he wasn't a villain. It was the one thing he needed most in life. Was using his quirk on the vigilante the work of a villain? He hadn't thought about that, at the time, just that he needed this. If he couldn't win the Sports Festival tournament, then he would have to do it the other way. Unmasking the Aphid.  
  
There was that nagging at the back of his head. He wanted to be a hero! He wanted to prove all the naysayers that he could be a hero! He was using his quirk in public, using it against a vigilante... to fulfill his dream. To prove that he wasn't a villain.  
  
By taking the mind of a classmate, to force them to expose themselves to him. It was his sin to bear, he had said. He had thought. He had known. And then... he felt a hand on his shoulder.  
  
"I'm not going to pretend to know what you did to my young ward or what there may or may not be between you, kiddo, but I'll tell you what I do know!" He took a knee, and looked Hitoshi in the eyes, tears starting to form in them. "You are at a crossroad of life! On one side is vile villainy! The left handed path of wickedness! The other, is hopeful heroism! A path full of righteousness!" Hitoshi looked at the blue clad vigilante.  
  
"You're... you're not going to stop me?"  
  
"Sorry, son, but while I'm capable of stopping you, that won't solve anything. You're the only one that can choose how this stalemate ends with your own selection. All I can give you is advice!" He stood up, looking at Hitoshi the entire time. "Just remember... right makes might!"  
  
He had thought about the words of the Tick, who said not only he could be a hero, but he was the only one that could choose. He blinked, drops falling from his eyes. He wanted to prove to everyone he could be a hero, that he wasn't a villain.  
  
He out a sight, as he released the green clad vigilante from his quirk. The Aphid collapsed to the roof of the building.  
  
"Did... did you know..." Aphid was gulping down air. "Did you know, Shinsou, that people stop breathing when you use your quirk on them if you don't give them a command?" Hitoshi did not, usually he gave them the command rather quickly... but... he called him by his name. That was important! He filed it away.  
  
"I did not, no." What else was he to say? 'Sorry I used my evil quirk on you. My bad.' The vigilante got back to his feet, walked over the Tick, stopping to talk to Hitoshi, placing a hand on his shoulder... just like the Tick did.  
  
"Don't let anyone tell you you can't be a hero, just be a hero! If you were a villain, you would've used your quirk on me, but you didn't!" He poked Hitoshi in the chest. "You feel that? That's the beat of the heart of a hero! Remember that feeling, and you'll be out here in no time, another soldier of justice in the never ending war on crime!" The Vigilante looked over to Tick. "C'mon, Tick. Like you said, crime never sleeps! And neither does Justice!"  
  
"Well said, Aphid!" And the two leapt from the roof top, leaving Hitoshi Shinsou.  
  
"Heart of a hero, huh?" Hitoshi laughed to himself. "You'd believe that, wouldn't you Izuku Midoriya!"  
  
_It was really close, being in thrall of Histoshi Shinsou like that. That loss of control, as you waited for the master to pull your strings. I wonder how long that would have affected me. I wasn't breathing. Would I have lost consciousness first? Would that have broken his hold? I resolved to talk to him about his quirk. If he wanted to be a hero, then I should help him._  
  
"Why didn't you stop him, Tick?" Izuku asked once they were a block away.  
  
"Hmmm? What? The violet hair lad that had you enthralled to his maybe malignant mental manipulations?" Izuku sighed at the Tick's reply.  
  
"No, I mean the other mind controlling teenager on the roof top." He paused, before continuing. "Sorry, yes, that one."  
  
"Wouldn't have solved anything, like I told him."  
  
"It would have stopped him using his quirk on me!"  
  
"In the short run, but then he goes looking for you, on your own. Follows you back to your home. Hounds you in such a way that you do not notice. But by having him choose, we set him on the path of heroism from here on out!"  
  
"At least we hope, right?"  
  
"Hope springs eternal, pal! There's always hope!"  
  
_Hope springs eternal. The words of the Tick had weight. The Symbol of Peace, All Might, brought hope to the world. And that was a legacy I was to inherit. But dark forces were on the move, as those fed up with Hero Society took to vigilantism instead, mine and All Might's enemies were desperate to make a deal with a demon._  
  
**Meanwhile...!**  
  
Thew warp portal deposited the two men at the foot of the mountain, the large palatial estate before them.  
  
"You couldn't have just placed us in the dark and dreary castle, Kurogiri?" Tomura Shigaraki asked. His arm was in a sling, as Sensei said he should use the pain in his shoulder as a reminder of what failure felt like.  
  
"You heard what he said, Shigaraki. We have some... set backs in recruitment, especially with our hasty retreat after All Might defeated Nomu. He suggested that we talk with the master of this house and see if he can... assist us." They still had to trudge up a long, narrow staircase that wound it's way through switchbacks to the castle like mansion.  
  
"So... do you want me to knock, Kurogiri? Is what it's come too? The glorious League of Villains, on bended knee, asking for help from the world's most renowned super villain? Who, need I remind you, is supposed to be dead?"  
  
"I don't like it either, Shigaraki, but you and I both know that Stain won't have anything to do with us and with more people taking to the night as vigilantes..."  
  
"Don't even get me started on that. People we had eyes on, people we knew we cold collect into our League... all of the sudden stopping purse snatchers in marketplaces after dusk! All because of that blue idiot!" Tomura Shigaraki _hated_ All Might. He hated that Green Haired Child he couldn't kill, he needed to learn more of him, but once he did, that boy wa dead. But the Tick? The Tick was something else, having thrown a huge wrench into their plans via a nationally televised speech that was nothing more then the rantings of a mad man, but apparently inspired EVERYONE to go out and be some Z-list do gooder that wouldn't make the back pages of the worst supermarket rag! He _loathed_ him entirely.  
  
And to have Stain, the Hero Killer, throw out that there's change in the air. That perhaps Hero Society will be improving! It made him scratch his neck with his good hand as they finally got to the impossibly tall door of the large castle.  
  
"Aren't you going to knock, Shigaraki?" Oh, of course Kurogiri wasn't going to knock on the door. The man could be such a coward sometimes. With a sigh, Shigaraki rang the bell.  
  
It sound like the gonging of a funerary bell. A minuted passed. Shigaraki rang it again. Another minute. Just as he went to ring it again, the door opened and he got hit in the head with a cane.  
  
"You only had to ring once, ya rat bastard!" The speaker was stooped with age, bringing his cane down for support.  
  
"I'm sorry... I'm Kurogiri, we were told by our leader to talk with you." Kurogirl placed an arm on Shigaraki's good shoulder to keep him from doing something foolish, or stupid. The incredibly old man looked at both of them, frowned, turned his head back inside the mansion.  
  
"Pop! Ya got visitors!" He shouted. Shigaraki looked over to Kurogiri, incredulously mouthing 'Pop?' A voice called back.  
  
"Tell 'em to go away, Charlie! I'm already in my pajamas!" An even more haggard sounding voice called from where ever in the house. The old man, Charlie, turned to look at the two of them.  
  
"We're with the League of Villains, and we're very interested in talking with you father." Charlie sighed at Kurogiri's explanation, as he shouted back to his father.  
  
"Fine! Tell 'em they can come in! And get us some tea, dammit!" Charlie rolled his eyes, as he lead the two super villains. He pointed them in the right direction, as he went to go get tea for their guests.  
  
Inside the study was a some medical equipment, a rather cute looking nurse, and of course... the world's greatest super villain. He looked positively ancient!  
  
"Please, gentlemen, have a seat and you can tell me what the Terror can do for you?" He smiled at them and his hacking laugh filled the room, as he showed off his perfect gold teeth.


	17. Issue 16

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA Issue #16  
  
_And so here we were... the Unforeseen Simulation Joint, again. With the holes in the dome patched up, we ready to try this again. But with the delay for repairs and with 1-A still needing to do it, it was decided to be a joint mission between classes 1-A and 1-B. Both Aizawa-sensei and the teacher for 1-B, Vlad King, decided that this would be best in building comraderie and true companionship.  
  
The flat look that Aizawa-sensei gave us while stating that told me that it was less their idea and more like the homeroom teacher of 1-B's idea._  
  
"You know, I'm not really sure why they thought it was appropriate to have such a big hole in the landslide zone. It seemed... kinda superfluous." Izuku was partnered up with Itsuka Kendo, as 1-A students were paired up with 1-B students for the search and rescue portion of the City zone. Ironically, it looked like they didn't even clean it up too much after the attack from the League of Villains. Made sense, in a way.  
  
"M-Maybe it's added a-aesthetic?" He replied, knowing full well what had actually happened. Their current task was to find a beacon in the rubble, it was supposed to be an emergency broadcast beacon from a shelter after an earthquake. It wasn't a race or anything, pairs could help each other if needed, this was really a way to test cooperativeness. He felt Itsuka put a hand on his shoulder.  
  
"Did that rubble just shift?" She was pointing at a slab of concrete. It didn't move. Maybe she was seeing things.  
  
"They didn't have any of the other students be victims, did they?" There were only a few right now in the Earthquake Urban zone. Himself paired with Itsuka. Eijiro Kirishima paired with Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu. Katsuki Bakugo paired with Neito Monoma. Ochako Uraraka with Pony Tsunotori.  
  
And then he saw it, too. The slight, subtle shift.  
  
"What...?" He tilted his head as the slab slid away and a giant of a man was uncovered, standing up to his full height with a growl.  
  
"What!" It couldn't be. It had been a few days. Surely all the villains were collected! But if... this wasn't good.  
  
"Hell's Shigaraki?" The villain asked, looking around. "Whatever... guess I'll jut get started with you two!" And leapt at Itsuka and Izuku! The green haired hero had to think fast and think fast he did, grabbing hold of the ginger girl and leap into the air!  
  
None too soon, as the large villain came crashing down with both fists like a hammer wielded by the gods themselves, leaving a crater into the shattered pavement of the mock city! They landed on a rooftop half a block away.  
  
"I really need to stop making this a habit..." Izuku mumbled to himself. Itsuka Kendo was training to be a hero in her own right. He didn't need to save her.  
  
"Thanks, Midoriya. Who is that?" Izuku was about to answer when they heard the villain shout.  
  
"Yes! Yes! YES! Run! RUN SO I CAN CHASE YOU!" And the backed away from the edge of the rooftop just in time, as the villain crashed into it! Once again, he grabbed Itsuka and raced to the opposite edge and leapt off the rooftops.  
  
"We got to find the others!" The ginger haired girl stated.  
  
"Agreed! I think it's going to take all 8 of us to bring down that beast, but how could they miss a villain that big!" The USJ invasion was both kept someone under wraps, but 1-B knew that an incident happened with 1-A, hence them sharing this field trip. He raced over the roofs, down to the streets... and then tripped on a piece of rubble. He was able to toss Itsuka off him and she managed to land gracefully a few feet away, as Izuku skidded across the pavement.  
  
He got to his feet quickly, just in time to see that same horned villain appear, charging after Itsuka! Time seemed to slow as his feet and legs moved on their own, he was pumping his power into his legs... and layered it into his skin! He could do this! It would work! He grabbed onto Itsuka at the last moment, the villains large meaty fist crashing into his back with a mighty crack that sent the two forward!  
  
It took some work on his part, using one arm to keep Itsuka close, the other to keep it so that it was him that took the brunt of the skipping and skidding they did across the pavement, his cocoon of One for All absorbing the force as they crashed through a wall.  
  
"That's three times, Midoriya..." Itsuka said from where they laid.  
  
"It really can't be helped. I'm dumb like that." He said, as Itsuka rose to her feet before helping Izuku up to his own. He had his hands on his knees and tried to catch his breath. "I don't think you're any less a hero, Itsuka, it's just..."  
  
"I know, Midoriya. But you shouldn't take every blow until you break." She told him. It felt like he was being scolded. Eijiro and Tetsutetsu rounded the corner.  
  
"What the hell was that, Midoriya!" Eijiro asked, looking at the state of the green haired hero in training! Izuku already felt like he was covered by a few bruises, mostly on his back, but that didn't matter, what did was that his friend was okay!  
  
"I'm fine. Really." He gave a small smile, before remembering the seriousness of what was happening. "They missed a villain from the League! And he's chasing after us!" He barely had a chance to get out before the villain was among them!  
  
"How many of you bastards are there!? Doesn't matter, I'mma take all of you out!" They went from two to four! That was plenty, wasn't it? The other duo both grinned their sharp tooth grins.  
  
"C'mon, Kirishima! Let's show this moron what we're made of!" Tetsutetsu called out as he and Eijiro charged the villain! They both had quirks that were so similar. Tetsutetsu's Steel quirk allowed him to turn his body into steel! And Eijiro's hardening quirk let his body turn rock hard! The Steel quirk user went in for a kick!  
  
Only to have the villain grab his ankle in a single meaty hand. "Lousy brats!" And he slammed Tetsutetsu's body into Eijiro's, flinging them both away like they were nothing! Even with extra combatants, the four of them weren't a match for this monster of a man!  
  
"HEY FUCK FACE!" Izuku could always count on Katsuki Bakugo making a bad situation worse, as he quite literally dropped a bomb on the villain!  
  
"Damn it, Midoriya! Am I going to spend all three years of high school bailing your nerd ass out of everything!?" Katsuki said, smoke filling the area. Neito Monoma was with him, a smug look on his face and even more smug swagger in his step.  
  
Both those quickly disappeared as the smoke cleared and the villain wasn't at all deterred by the bomb Katsuki dropped a finger flick to both sent them flying! Katsuki towards Eijiro and Tetsutetsu, Neito to Itsuka and Izuku. With her quirk, Itsuka managed to catch Neito and let hm down.  
  
"Monoma! Can't you copy his quirk!?" She asked. If they could meet his fire power with some of their own, perhaps.  
  
"Well... that's a complicated question, Kendo. Yes, yes I can. But my quirk also tells me how detrimental copying a quirk might be, so excuse me if I don't want to turn into a bloody mess!" That would make sense, but there was something familiar about the way he stated that. It didn't matter, as Izuku went and charged the monster, filling his arm with a full 5% of One for All! If this villain was strong, let's just see how strong he was!  
  
Their fists met with a loud crash! The force of the blow creating a crater that they were standing in, as they both shook from the meeting of their fists, one trying to over power the other!  
  
"Make way!" A voice called in the distance, as they saw... Ochako Uraraka riding Pony Tsunotori. Izuku had idly wondered by the transfer student's costume included a saddle, but it all made sense now! He watched with wide eyes as Ochako leapt off of Pony, towards the villain and slapped him in the back of the head before falling right behind him... and Pony's charge connected!  
  
"FOOOOOOOOORK!" The blonde shouted as her quirk went off! _'What?!'_ Izuku thought to himself as the villain was sent flying!  
  
"Ha! I told ya it'd work, Ochako! High five!" She held her hand up and put down after some disappointment.  
  
"The... what was that?" The fact that their quirks were used in tandem, Izuku had to know what the blonde's quirk was.  
  
"Oh! It's called Horn Cannon! I create a shock wave with my horns. Faster I move, the stronger the shock wave! With Ochako here making the villain weightless and with me hitting him fully couched..." She looked up as the villain hit the cieling. He had mass, but no weight and not nearly enough force to break through it. Ochako touched her fingers together and he came falling down, with a mighty crash!  
  
He lay there, un-moving for several moments. "Finally, let's see who this bastard is! I want him to look me in the eye and know he's on my shit list for life!" And Katsuki marched up to the villain and pulled off his mask.  
  
"... what the shit!?" And greeted by the smiling visage of All Might himself!  
  
"Yes, it is true, Young Bakugo! It is I, All Might!" He finally managed to get to a sitting position. "Eraserhead, Vlad, and myself decided to add a little extra to the training in the Urban Earthquake zone, to see how you would cooperate with someone you barely know, and what better way then an Unforeseen villain attack!" He finally stood up.  
  
"Congratulations to all of you! Especially you two, Young Uraraka and Young Tsunotori. The combination of Zero Gravity and Horn Cannon was... quite spectacular and I'll probably be feeling it for the rest of the evening." All Might proceeded to grade us all on our performance. Tetsutetsu and Eijiro got points for bravery, but they had to think better next time. They were both capable of taking a lot of damage with their quirks, but against a stronger opponent, physics works against them.  
  
"Young Monoma, you need to understand your allies quirks more, if you are to successfully copy them. If you are unable to copy from your allies and your opponent is stronger, then you may as well be a civilian in the field of battle." It was... harsh, but true. Being able to copy a quirk is a powerful ability, but if he couldn't handle the quirk he was copying...  
  
"And Young Midoriya... saving your allies is fine and all, but you need to stop sacrificing your body to do it. Sometimes, you need to trust your allies to save themselves." He took his mask back from Katsuki. "Finally, Young Bakugo, never turn your back on an enemy you do not confirm is defeated. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to find another hiding spot. You can tell Aizawa and Vlad that you passed and they can send in the next set of teams." He a put a finger to their mouth and shushed them.  
  
Leaving the 8 stunned.  
  
"Did you survive a hit from All Might, Midoriya?" Itsuka finally asked, as they exited the Urban Earthquake zone. Izuku smiled and shrugged before wincing.  
  
"He was probably holding back. By a lot. He doesn't want to break his students." He didn't have to tell her that All Might was getting weaker each time he transformed from his true form into his hero form. Or that they shared a power dating back from the dawn of quirks and that was the only reason he survived any kind of hit from the Symbol of Peace.  
  
But there was something else on his mind. "Uh... Tsunotori, do you have a moment?" He asked the blonde. She looked around, briefly.  
  
"Oh, c'mon, Izuku! You say that and I start lookin' for my mom! It's Pony!"  
  
"Errrr... right. Pony. Where did you get that? When you charged, I mean!" He couldn't just out right ask if she knew the Tick, because that was the only hero he knew that used a utensil as a battlecry.  
  
"Oh. Right. See, I'm from the United States! Not only that, I spent a big part of my childhood in the City."  
  
"Which city?" Izuku asked, needing clarification.  
  
"The City. Singular. Definitively." Right, America could be so weird.  
  
"But anywho, back in the City, there was a hero! He was big! He was blue! He fought a dinosaur down town! And when he charged into combat, it was with a cry of SPOOOOON!" She ran a few circles around Izuku on the last part. "So I was just doin' my own little twist on one of my home town heroes!"  
  
"You know what, Pony? You're alright."  
  
_It was odd, to think that the Tick had such a effect on another young hero. Other then me, of course. Her and Ochako got the MVP of the Urban Earthquake zone, able to solve the problem of the overlooked villain the fastet and easiest. Apparently it as a way to grade how well we worked together and apparently the two had been talking about their quirks non stop while looking for the location beacon when they heard Katsuki's explosion._  
  
_Honestly? Good for Ochako. She certainly needed a boost of her confidence after how dejected she looked after Mei revealed we were dating._


	18. Issue 17

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue #17  
  
_The UA Sports Festival was coming up in a few weeks. A chance for all the students to show off what they were capable of, no matter their class. I was already in competition with just about everyone in the Freshman year (in fairness, so so was every other freshman). Most importantly, doing well in the Sports Festival was the way for a General Education student to get recognized and promoted to the Heroics course. Or at least it was before the Aphid hunt._  
  
It had been a hell of a day for Izuku Midoriya, especially with the return to the USJ. He had so many things on his mind. Tenya was thinking about setting a few afternoons aside for both studying and the Aphid Hunt, Momo wanted to talk to him about the various duties he had as class president. That was on top of any advice and training All Might wanted to give him... and that was ontop of going out with the Tick nearly on a nightly basis.  
  
Then he had to compound that with the fact that he had an actual girlfriend! Speaking of which, she was waiting for him right outside of the school.  
  
"Hey!" She greeted, siding up next to him and putting an arm around his shoulder. "I'm guessing this field trip was better then the last?"  
  
"Mmm, much! I think Uraraka made a new friend. She got along really well with a student from 1-B." Izuku replied as they walked out of the gates. It was... he could get used to this, actually.  
  
"Midoriya, you got a moment!" And waiting right outside... was Hitoshi Shinsou. He looked like he had something to say.  
  
"Yeah, I got a few moments. What's up?" Hitoshi looked from Izuku, then to Mei.  
  
"Alone?"  
  
"Anything you have to say to me, Shinsou, you can say to Mei." Izuku stood firm in front of the pale skinned, neutral faced teen who's lips twitched.  
  
"Fine. Let's get down to brass tacks, then. I know what you get up too at night" Hitoshi let a smirk form, looking at the two of them.  
  
"And? So do I!" Mei replied before Izuku could say anything.  
  
"Of course you do." Hitoshi was doing good, looking nonplussed about the whole thing.  
  
"Alright, alright, so you know what I get up to with my extra curricular activities. What do you want, Shinsou?" The Gen Ed student straightened up, and looked over the two.  
  
"Fine, if we're not beating around the bush, my original plan was to blackmail you."  
  
"Blackmail me?" Izuku asked, what... oh. "You mean going to the faculty and saying you figured out who Aphid is. Go ahead. I'm not going to stop you." Hitoshi's face fell, frowning.  
  
"What... but you told me not to use my quirk on you...."  
  
"For your sake, Shinsou. You want to be a hero, then be a hero. Everyone has a choice only they could make." Izuku's voice was firm. Well, there went Hitoshi's plans, how could anyone be so pure in their own beliefs? "But you want something, so tell me what it is."  
  
The other boy sighed. "Fine. The Sports Festival is coming up. I'm in it to win, but... I find myself lacking in the physical department."  
  
"Go on..."  
  
"I need your help!" He grabbed a hold of Izuku's blazed by the lapels. "I'm weedy and I'm weak! Twenty flights of stairs left me breathless! It took all I had to just grab onto the ladder of the fire escape! My quirk can only get me so far and I can't rely on it always working! We're the similar size and similar height, I want... need you to train me!" He was pleading and it was awkward.  
  
"You... want me to train you?" That was certainly an odd request. "You... do realize it took more then 2 weeks to get me from where I was two years ago and where I am now. A year of running around with the Tick, plus 10 months of training towards the lead up to the Entrance Exam." Hitoshi straightened up, letting Izuku go.  
  
"I... I see." He turned to leave, but stopped when he Izuku put a hand on his shoulder.  
  
"I didn't say no. It's going to be a lot of work, but you're going to have to put in the time. You'll have to do the work. You'll have to want this. Take your hunger, take your desperation, and we'll turn you into a mighty tool of justice for the workshop of righteousness" Already, he had thoughts on the matter. Hitoshi... he liked to say that he was a friend, and he had the capability to be a great hero if he was just given the chance. Mei looked over at the mosshead, that last bit at the end he tagged on didn't sound exactly normal.  
  
"I..." He blinked away tears before taking Izuku into a hug. "Thank you, Midoriya!" It was.. awkward, and all Izuku could do was robotically pat Hitoshi on the back. Once. Twice.  
  
"You're... welcome? I'll... figure something out. Modify my Aim to Pass plan and give it to you tomorrow morning." Thankfully the hug ended, Hitoshi thanked him again, before taking off. It was actually the first time he saw the other boy smile.  
  
"Wow, you certainly have an effect on people, Izuku." Mei commented, after Hitoshi was out of ear shot.  
  
"I've noticed." He turned to Mei, took a deep breath, and he was the one to surprise her with a kiss. "C'mon, I'll walk you to the train station."  
  
_I didn't understand why Hitoshi Shinsou thought I was the one that could turn him into a hero. It took near nightly vigilantism with the Tick for two years and clearing Dagobah beach in seven months to get me to where I was right now. I just hope that 2 weeks was enough to let him achieve his dreams._  
  
**MEANWHILE!**  
  
The meeting with the Terror had been... productive. Apparently the world's first supervillain was already active in Japan, but neither the Terror nor his son were particularly talkative about what they were doing. That was okay, it didn't bother Tomura Shigaraki, the fact was he could get allies. Allies that had a bone to pick with the Tick.  
  
"I'll be honest, I don't have much experience with the Tick, having been semi-retired for the last 30 years..." The Terror said, "but I do keep a dossier of his Rogues Gallery. The group most likely to sign up with your little League and head over to Japan!"  
  
And so Tomura and Kurogiri found themselves looking through the binders, detailing a distinctively American set of supervillains. The top of the list was Chairface Chippendale. While his quirk wasn't anything to wright home about, and to be frank, it was the most unfortunately mutation quirk either had scene, the man was smart and capable, having almost succeeded in carving his name in the Moon.  
  
Foiled, time and time again by the Tick's intervention, but that mostly seemed to be through dumb luck on the Tick's part, if the big blue idiot wasn't causing a distraction to let a more competent hero save the day. Conveniently, he had just recently escaped from prison.  
  
The next dossier was for the Breadmaster. This was just what Tomura expected American criminals to be like. Long boring backstory about some petty, tedious spiteful passion, in this case bread baking, who then took their unique set of skills and turned it towards evil. He wouldn't have given the Breadmaster any thought, but the fact was, those bread bombs seemed like they could come in handy, especially with the evidence that they were capable of destroy entire buildings!  
  
The Scarlet Tick was noted to be a vigilante of some report and was noted that he called himself the Tick until he confronted the blue Tick over use of the name at the superhero only Comet Club. Long story short, the Tick prevailed and the other took the name the Scarlet Tick and swore revenge upon the Wild Blue Yonder. While a vigilante might find it distasteful working alongside the league of villains, the Terror assured to the two that his hatred for the Tick would prevail in the end.  
  
And finally...  
  
"... ... ... what am I supposed to do with a 14 year old?" Tomura asked the ancient villain.  
  
"What? The Brainchild? He's probably smarter then any ten people combined! Capable of engineering feats unheard of! Why, if the lad wasn't evil to the core, he'd probably be working at a support company already! But, their loss is our gain, Shigaraki!" Tomura wasn't entirely convinced, but Sensei said he could trust the Terror's advice.  
  
"Fine, fine. We'll take in the kid." He added the name to the pile. There were plenty other villains that were possible, but he wanted to keep the number of them low. The very last thing Tomura needed was for AEGIS to investigate why so many American villains were suddenly operating in Japan.  
  
Hero Society was one thing, but an entire foreign government body, hounding him and his allies? That wasn't what he wanted, at all!  
  
"Are you sure that's wise, Shigaraki? The boy is just a child." Kurogiri, always the conscience for this team. It was enough to make Tomura sick to his stomach, but it was why he kept the warp quirk user around. Other then his warp portals. The Terror laughed, a sickening chicken laugh.  
  
"That boy turned his nanny into a mindless, killer cyborg when he was 8! I wouldn't worry about that child! His heart's as black as mine!"  
  
Very rarely did Tomura second guess Sensei. He did so much for him, showed him so much. But the longer he sat in the presence of the Terror, the more her came to the realization that he had to be looking into the face of true evil, that does it's horrible things because it can and no one will stop him.  
  
On the other hand, his hatred of All Might, his loathing of the Tick, was so great that he was willing to make this deal with this demon.  
  
"Thank you. We certainly appreciate your assistance." Tomura told the devil in the shape of a man before him.  
  
"Ha! You'll have plenty of time to thank me! I'll be going as well!" ... what? The Terror? In Japan?  
  
"Retirement isn't what it's cracked up to be! Besides, we've been running a few tests in Japan and Terry, my other son, you'll meet him soon enough, got word from our people there that the Tick has been causing us problems. The Enemy of my Enemy is my enemy's enemy, but we can certainly work together!" The Terror said with a growl. "It used to be, even 20 years ago! You couldn't say my name without milk curdling and babies crying and mirrors shattering! The world's gone too complacent, Tomura! It needs to fear again! It's needs to fear me again!" Tomura swallowed heavily. He knew what he was about to do was akin to letting the genie out of the bottle. If he went down this path, there would be no turning back.  
  
"Well, then consider this an offer of alignment from the League of Villains to the Terror himself!" He held out a hand, and the Terror grinned.  
  
"Forgive me if I'm not about to shake hands with a man that can decay anything he touches, but I accept this offer of alliance! Charlie! Pack our bags! We're going to Japan!"  
  
And lo, did the world tremble!


	19. Villainy Special

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! VILLAINY SPECIAL!  
  
The city of... the City was where Tomura Shigaraki and Kurogiri went next. Tomura had barely been in the City when he realized how much he hated America. He hate the crony capitalism he was surrounded by, selling this and that! Genuine Caped Wonder Merchandise! Sign up next Blowhole run across the country! And what moron decided to name a city THE CITY!?  
  
"Shigaraki? Are you alright?" Kurogiri snapped him out of his revelry of hatred and disgust!  
  
"I'm fine, Kurogiri. Let's just find this..." he let out a sigh. This is what his life came to be, wasn't it? "Chairface Chippendale." Just saying it was embarrassing.  
  
"According to the Terror's dossier on Chippendale, he's the head of a gang that calls themselves the Triggerman Society." Tomura groaned. What was it about people with such weak quirks make them think they can be super criminals? If his organization wasn't desperate for recruits, he would have just left this moron to wallow in mediocrity.  
  
"The Terror said that he was contacting them, right? Telling them that we wanted to meet them." Still, mediocre crime lord or not, it didn't pay to just show up unannounced. Especially American gangsters with itchy trigger fingers. Taking a deep breath, Tomura went up to the door of run down industrial factor and knocked on the door.  
  
"Whattaya want?" Came the call from behind the door.  
  
"We have an appointment with Mister Chippendale. Shigaraki and Kurogiri...?" Hopefully the Terror came through.  
  
"Why didn'ya say so? Chairface was expectin' ya!" They could hear some locks on the other side open and standing before them... well, he would call the man of slightly below average height, if it weren't for the fact that a full fourth of his height was purely his forehead. He introduced himself as just that, the Forehead, and while taking them to where Chairface was holding court, introduced the two foreign villains to the rest of the Triggerman Society.  
  
Seemed like most of them were the type of having useless mutation quirks that did nothing but make one's life even more difficult. Such as Crease, who's upper face looked like it was folded. Boils, who was covered just in that. Headless Henderson, who was headless but it didn't seem to bother him that much. Eyebrows Mulligan, who's... well... eyebrows covered his eyes.  
  
The only ones that Tomura noted as being of any use would be the Deadly Nose, who appeared to have a double barreled pistol as his nose, and Dean the so called Butterfly Nutcase. From Forehead's description of what Dean could do, Tomura would have thought that Chairface had his own Noumu.  
  
And of course, the man himself. It was one thing to see a picture of the super villain in the dossier, but to be there... in real life. It certainly was the worst mutation quirk Tomura could ever think of. That man's head was a chair! Both Tomura and Kurogiri were dumb struck, looking at the man, as he was slouched on a wing back chair like a king of old, cigar in hand. ... it was hard to describe watching the man smoke his cigar. He would hold it up between the front legs of his chair shaped head, the end would glow... and he'd exhale a wreath of blue smoke.  
  
"Well? You're the ones that asked to see me. If you don't have anything to say, you can leave."  
  
"Sorry, Mister Chippendale." Kurogiri started, approaching the crime lord. It was best to deal with men like these with a delicate touch. "We're with the League of Villains...!" The warp quirk user was cut off by Chairface's raucous laughter.  
  
"The League of Villains? The same so called League of Villains that ended up getting beaten by a bunch of school children?"  
  
"The Unforeseen Simulation Joint was just a setback!" Tomura felt his blood boiling inside of him. To be insulted by such a cretin! "And it wasn't just the children! I was lied too! All Might was supposed to have suffered a wound like no other! One that was to leave him weakened! But my information was incorrect!"  
  
"And why should I care? All Might. The Number 1 Hero of All Japan. The so called Symbol of Peace. Why should I give a DAMN about what happens in Japan? Especially since everything I've heard says you abandoned your army to the heroes in training!" One his goons brought him a glass of wine, which he took happily. Or at least as happily as one could tell, reading the facial expressions of man's who's face was a chair could be... quite difficult.  
  
"It wasn't just All Might and a bunch of children. The Tick was there!" Tomura couldn't help but give a little bit of a smirk. The reaction the crime lord gave was priceless. He must have been a bit tense, as all of the sudden, his left hand closed, shattering the glass of wine in his hand, staining his gloves with the dark liquid.  
  
"The Tick!" He spat, standing up. "The Tick! I absolutely LOATHE the Tick!" That was a feeling that Tomura could identify with. He got off his chair, and walked towards the two Japanese supervillains. "You want to know why I'm a super criminal?"  
  
"I really don't want too." Tomura replied. "I'm going to give you a free piece of advice boy, never tell a king in his own castle what he can or cannot do." Chairface ignored him entirely.  
  
"When I was a child, everyone else had the most amazing quirks. 'I have hydrokinesis!' 'I'm part wolf!' 'I can see five seconds into the future!' Would you like to know what my quirk is?" He was looming over the younger villain.  
  
"Does it have something to do with your head being a chair?"  
  
"It has EVERYTHING to do with my head being a chair! There are mutation quirks and then their are MUTATION quirks! I have the latter!" He was ranting, he was raving! The man seemed to be quite upset that growing up he was unloved by friends and family, and turned to villainy and crime as an outlet for these dark feelings, a sharp relief from the misery of his childhood.  
  
"I have had too many plans ruined by the Tick! Time and time and time again, the big blue idiot has thwarted me at every turn! So is this your recruitment pitch? Because if you offer me a chance to take out the Tick, I will be more then happy to pull up roots and go to Japan and wreck as much havoc as you need me too!" He made a sweeping gesture towards his henchmen and goons.  
  
"You hear that, boys? The Triggerman Society is setting up shop in the land of the Rising Sun!" He turned to Tomura as the criminals cheered. "We'll call you as soon as we get there. Now I'll have to ask you to leave, we have plenty of prepwork to do!" With that, the two were shown out the door.  
  
"Do you think it wise, Shigaraki, to let Mister Chippendale bring his whole gang? The invitation was only open to himself." Kurogiri finally asked as they exited the building. Tomura, for his part shrugged.  
  
"I really don't care. If he wants to have his gang running little power games when he's not on League time, why the hell should I care? Besides, we could bring in some much needed revenue with the Triggerman. We just need to convince him to kick back some to the League. We'll... call it dues, I guess."  
  
"Do you think he'll appreciate you turning the League into some kind of super villainy trade union?" Kurogiri asked, refering to Sensei.  
  
"I'm sure he won't mind. Who's the next foe we need to pick up, I don't want to stay in this weird town any longer then I have too."  
  
The next one on their list... was the Breadmaster. Like Chairface, he too had decided to lair in some form of abandoned major industry. Must have been some kind of common delusion among American super villains. They barely had time to knock on the door when it was opened, the man in an apron and chef's toque greeting them cheerfully.  
  
"Ah, yes. Please, come in come in! I was expecting you! It's not often that I get a chance to entertain guests! Tell me, have you had dinner yet?" The man was excited to have the two visit.  
  
"I'm sorry, but do you know who we are?" Kurogiri asked. It wouldn't do him good if he thought they were someone else.  
  
"I believe so. I was told to expect two gentlemen from some Japanese association that would present to me an opportunity unlike anything else." He brought the two do a dining table. "I was actually quite excited to discover you were Japanese! Very rarely do I get a chance to practice ethnic cuisine." And presented on the table for the two were a set of dishes. Tomura looked at one of them.  
  
"Is... is this genuine Kobe beef?" He asked the criminal culinary mastermind. "Of course it is. And don't worry about cost... I'm criminal, I stole it! Buttery Pat! Drinks for our guests!" What proceeded was frankly... the most amazing meal Tomura Shigaraki ever had. Japanese flavors and ingredients, fused perfectly with western style cooking techniques. The man who invited Tomua to his table was a GENIUS unlike any other. Sure, his henchman, the aforementioned Buttery Pat had the misfortune of being made out of butter, but the true genius of the Breadmaster was when he was in the kitchen.  
  
He had explained that his quirk enhanced his sense of taste to such a point that as long as he could taste a gram of any edible comestible, he could tell you the exact ingredients, down to the milligram! It was perfect for a gourmet epicurean of his skill and intellect!  
  
Still, they had finished eating and were having after dinner cocktails. Tomura had almost forgotten why they had come to see the villain anyway!  
  
"First... I want to think you for your kind hospitality, you're certainly a better host then Mister Chippendale." Tomura could always trust Kurogiri to be the most diplomatic of all the members of the League of Villains.  
  
"Pfffft! Chairface thinks he's the king of the City, just because he has the largest gang! Or the most money! Or the most successful schemes! Well, I say NAY! I am the MASTER OF BREAD and I will not be denied!"  
  
"Would you be able to work with him if needed?" The man in the chef's toque pondered for a moment.  
  
"As long as I'm not playing second fiddle to that arrogant bastard, I'll be more then happy to work with him." He paused for a moment, looking over Tomura and Kurogiri. "Who did you say you were with, again?" That's right, they never got a chance to talk about it during dinner, they were just talking about other things, like it was a normal get together of friends after a long time of not seeing each other.  
  
"My apologies." Tomura started, he could do this. "Kurogiri and I are from the League of Villains and wished to offer you a membership in our group." The culinary villain thought about it for a moment, scratching his chin.  
  
"It would require move to Japan, which is difficult legally, I can't imagine immigration as a known super criminal. And I'll be working with Chairface... I'm just not seeing enough advantages for it." He was shaking his head.  
  
"If I may, Breadmaster." Kurogiri was taking the lead of the negotiations. "The current front for the League of Villains is a bar located in Kamino ward. With you culinary expertise, I believe it's possible we could change it from a run down dive into a true gastro pub." Their American host laughed.  
  
"I see what you're trying to do, Mister Kurogiri, but it's not going to work." Tomura had to think fast. Yes, that would do it. It set the crime lord off like no one's busines, perhaps it would work on this one too!  
  
"The Tick is in Japan and he's on the League's list." That got the interest of the Breadmaster.  
  
"Alright, I'll turn your little dive into Japan's foremost gastro pub! And then the Tick, he shall rue the day when he crossed the Breadmaster! Buttery Pat! Pack our bags! We're going to Japan!" With that done, the two Japanese super villains bid their leave.  
  
"Gastro pub, huh? Sounds like you wanted to have more of that man's cooking." Not that Tomura could blame him. Hell, they could use the Breadmaster's culinary skills as a selling point to join the League of Villains.  
  
"Are you saying you don't? I have certain amount of self interest and that's best meal I ever had in my life. Which one do you want to go for next? The Brainchild or the Scarlet Tick?" It wasn't much of a question. The vigilante or the kid. Given the lateness of the hour, it was decided to go after the Scarlet Tick, in the morning they could go after the Brainchild.  
  
How hard could it be to find a single vigilante in a metropolis as over populated with heroes as the City was? The answer to that question was harder then they first thought. Being villains themselves, they didn't want to attract the attention of any professional hero or any other amateur vigilante.  
  
Still, all it took was patience and they heard the low rumble of a motorcycle, and saw a brown clad vigilante, a red shield upon his back ride his way through the streets of the city, through the seedy underbelly. Even from their hiding position, they could hear him monologing about the filth in the streets, how he saw the City's true face and that it will come to fear him as he leapt off his bike into a crowd of would be criminals.  
  
Observation is an important skill, when one was recruiting for an entirely extra legal organization such as theres. The Scarlet Tick was a big man, but no where near the same size as the Tick that was giving them problems. He fought in a deliberate way, obviously have some kind of training, where as the Tick had no skill at all. The Scarlet Tick made use of a piece of support gear, a shield that seemed to absorb any kind of kinetic force. That was actually quite clever, according to the Terror's dossier on Mister Barry Hubris, he a kinetic manipulation and amplification quirk. The kinetic force shield acted as one large battery for him.  
  
It was admittedly quite clever! Still, the petty burglary gang that he broke up were soon busted and broken on the ground.  
  
"Alright, you assholes want a go, too? Then come on out and face me like a man!" He was addressing them. Of course, you should never discount a vigilante, they had to be better then the average professional, in some ways. Kurogiri was the one to step out, to confront the vigilante.  
  
"Greetings. My name is Kurogiri. The organization I work for is in need of shoring up it's numbers, and we have our eye on you." He had to be delicate, vigilantes were notoriously unstable!  
  
"And what organization is that?" He placed his shield on his back, heading to his motorcycle.  
  
"That's a simple question with a very complicated answer. I'm affiliated with a group called the League of Villains, though we're mostly a band of people fed up with the false heroics and blatant fakery of Hero Society in Japan. As a vigilante, I'm sure you can relate." He looked for anything on the Scarlet Tick's body language, he had to be every ready in case he was attacked.  
  
"Why should I give a shit about what's going down in Japan? You think heroes are any better in America? How long have you been in the City? There may be enough crime to go around, but the fact is, the Average hero in this town is a moron. You'd think AEGIS was giving away hero licenses in cereal boxes."  
  
"But you should. There's a new hero in Japan, one that you might have interest in. He's big. He's blue." Kurogiri smiled. He had the Scarlet Tick now, hook and line and sinker.  
  
"The Tick." He practically spat the name out. "I don't like the idea of working with villains, even if you think yourselves as just fighting against a society that looks down on you. But the Tick? Hell, I'll do it for free." That was a lot easier then Kurogiri expected, getting the Scarlet Tick to sign on just like that. "You just let me know when and where and I'll be there."  
  
With that, the vigilante saddled his motorcycle and went roaring off into the distance.  
  
"That went a lot easier then I was expecting, honestly. The Tick creates enemies for himself like a craftsman. I could almost respect that if I didn't hate him." Still, they had one more to gather. This one they would have to wait until morning.  
  
Honestly, unlike the Terror or Chairface or the Breadmaster, it was almost quaintly domestic. A little suburban house slightly outside of the City.  
  
"Seems rather quaint, doesn't it." Tomura commented, as they walked upto the house, and rang the bell. A redheaded home maker invited the two of them in, saying she was expecting them.  
  
"I didn't realize that Charles entered a foreign student exchange program, but it certainly makes sense! He's very, very, very smart!"  
  
"Oh, yes. We were very impressed with his entrance exam and essays. You have a very intelligent boy there." It was awkward for Tomura, to be the silent partner in all of this, especially as Kurogiri effortlessly convinced the Brainchidl's mother that he was the deputy provost of some hoity toity private academy back in Japan and that Charles would be starting their as soon as possible. Oh, yes, they apologized for the short noticed, but the application was unfortunately lost in the regular paperwork.  
  
"MOM! Charles says he gets to take Skippy with him!" And out the yard came a redhead girl, obviously taking after her mother. Following after her was the 14 year old child with the big brain.  
  
"Amelia! Skippy's my dog! I take care of him!" Charles and his sister were arguing like... well... children. Which they were, but that was besides the point, as the two continued to bicker back and forth., until the mother got involved.  
  
"Amelia, I know you love Skippy too, but Charles is going to go to a foreign nation for school! He's going to every single major holiday and your birthday. I'm sure we can let him have his dog to keep him company and so he doesn't get home sick, alright? Can we do that for your brother, Amelia?" The girl pouted, but in the end the fact that she didn't want her brother being home sick while he was off at some school in Japan won out.  
  
Soon enough, the details were hashed out and Charles was told that as soon as his plane landed at the airport, to have Charles contact Kurogiri and they'll bring him to the academy directly. "We look forward to the rest of this academic year, young man."  
  
As soon as everything was taken care of, the two thanked Charles' mother for her time and tea, and left the quaint little slice of suburbia.  
  
"Ugh. Can we just leave already, Kurogiri? I'm getting tired of this place, this city, this country." Tomura was... surprised how well the recruitment went. The people that hated the Tick, oh they could be convinced to do whatever Tomura wanted, as long as they got a chance to after the big blue bug. It was nice having allies that were single minded in their goals that wouldn't see just what Tomura and Sensei were planning.  
  
It was enough to make him chuckle as he stepped through Kurogiri's portal.


	20. Issue 18

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA Issue #18  
  
Sundays was a day to catch up on studying and just not worry about having to go to school. Enjoy one's self with a whole day of doing... well, whatever. Playing video games, hanging out at the mall, going to the beach!  
  
But not for Hitoshi Shinsou. No, he had go and write a check with his mouth that he wasn't quite sure he could actually cash. He did come a rather startling conclusion, though. He and Izuku Midoriya weren't not in fact, the same size. Height wise? Sure. Maybe they were similarly proportioned. But Hitoshi was weedy, scrawny, small. Izuku on the other hand...  
  
"On your left!" Had just lapped Hitoshi once more. But beside that, he was built. Like some mad scientist decided to run an experiment and see just how much could be packed into a five and a half foot frame. He actually boggled at the fact that Izuku had a good 35 to 40 pounds on him.  
  
Currently, they were at a local park in Mustafu. Izuku had promised to help train him and apparently that meant doing things nice and slow. Starting off with a 1km jog around the track and Hitoshi realized that he was woefully out of shape. Izuku had already lapped him three times and he was barely out of breath where as Hitoshi felt like he was nearing the end of a death march.  
  
Finally, after much trudging, out of breath, Hitoshi Shinsou collapsed into a heap. He did it... he managed to do 1km. Everything burned. His legs burned, his chest burned, he could feel his heart hammering in his chest.  
  
"Wow, Shinsou... you really are out of shape. I think they call that skinny fat." Oh, right. She was there as well. Mei Hatsume. She wasn't being forced to do this, she was just here because Izuku was here. The girl with pink hair and yellow eyes, wearing a pair of dark blue short overalls and a ribbed shirt that was much too short. He really didn't know what Izuku saw in her, and yet they acted like a pair of puppies together in such a saccharine sugar bowl way that he found his teeth hurting.  
  
"Hatsume..." He was catching his breath, desperately trying to get his heart to calm down. Was he so out of shape that a run single kilometer nearly dropped him like a sack of potatoes? Was it possible that he could be so unhealthy? That feeling of inadequacy returned with Izuku, who jogged up to them shaking the sweat out of his shaggy green hair.  
  
"That was pretty good for your first time, Shinsou!" he was too cheery. He was way too cheery for someone that ran 3 in the same time he did 1. On the other hand, Izuku had iron chords for legs and arms from what he could say and now he was taking off his sweat soaked shirt.  
  
"Thanks, Midoriya..." He finally caught his breath, and sat up. He could see Mei scribbling on a pad of drawing paper. He didn't even need to guess what she was sketching as Izuku wrung out his shirt, and threw it over his shoulder.  
  
"Alright, soon as your ready, we'll start with the next set." Next set? What next set? A bottle of water was tossed to him, which he greedily drank down... and then almost spat it all up.  
  
"The hell is this?" He finally managed, after swallowing. "It's sour and it's salty all at the same time!"  
  
"That's a specially crafted electrolyte hydration solution! It's a full five times more effective then plain water." Oh, fantastic, another one of Mei Hatsume's inventions. She was making them edible now. Drinkable. Whatever. He was feeling better, but... he wasn't about to tell her that.  
  
"So, I know we only have a few weeks before the Sports Festival, but we're going to start you off slow. Very slow. So day? 10 push ups, 10 sit ups, and 10 squats! And maybe 10 chin ups, but those might be harder to do on your own at home." Oh, he was starting to ramble. This was worse then the pain in his legs.  
  
"I really don't care what we're doing, Midoriya, just put your shirt back on!"  
  
"You don't have to listen to him, Izuku! If you want to keep stripped down to your waist, you can be!" This was going to be the longest day of his life.  
  
_I had a lot of bad memories attached to Coursan Park... but this time, it didn't feel so bad. Maybe it was because Mei was with me. Or maybe it was because I was trying my best to help a friend. Hitoshi Shinsou may not have been the most in shape, but I think if he followed the plan I had set out for him, by the time the Sports Festival rolled around, he'd be much more prepared for it._  
  
It was the afternoon, and Mei and Izuku were still at the park, in the shade of a tree. Hitoshi had finished the exercises that Izuku showed him and received a copy of the plan that Izuku promised to make for him. Though, he did think it was a bit much that after the sits up, Hitoshi quoted a death poem, it felt a bit melodramatic to Izuku.  
  
"What're you sketching?" He finally asked Mei, looking over to her. She had a sketch pad and she was scribbling on it. A touch of pink shaded her cheeks.  
  
"Ah, I guess that means it's me, huh?"He shook his head. She was just so... she was beyond cute and sweet. He wasn't sure why other people couldn't see that! Sure, she had problems with personal space, and maybe she came off as acerbic. But he knew the real Mei Hatsume and she was a real sweet heart.  
  
"It's more then just that, Izuku." She finally showed him what she was sketching. As he figured out, it was him. But it was... it was a pretty detailed anatomical drawing, with technical additions. It was like... was she redesigning his costume on the fly? The notes were so neat and descriptive.  
  
"See, I was thinking about your costume and I know I really shouldn't be thinking about schoolwork on our day off, but then you took off your shirt and I got inspired! I got to thinking about a problem we discussed before. You have all this power, but it's like your body can't contain it. I was thinking, if we reinforced your costume at strategic points, we could keep you from blowing yourself up!" It did sound like a good idea, but...  
  
"Why do I think this sounds like an excuse to get me in my shorts in a fitting room with you taking measurements, Mei?" She smiled sweetly at him.  
  
"Oh, sweetie, that's just another benefit, not a reason!" Heh, yeah, he could see her thinking that.  
  
"You want too... get some ice cream, maybe?" Like, it wasn't really a day at the park, especially since he was focused on trying to get Hitoshi on the right track to not being such a weed by the time the Sports Festival came around.  
  
"Yeah, that sounds great, actually." He threw his shirt back on and they exited the park. Three days, they had been dating for three days and it wasn't so bad, actually! He could do this, he was going to make this work.  
  
The Ice Cream parlor was only a short walking distance from the park entrance and especially given the warm Sunday afternoon, plenty of people were milling about at the picnic tables and waiting in line. Izuku, ever the gentleman, took their place in line and let Mei grab them a seat. By the time he got back there, he was surprised that they had company.  
  
"Uraraka, Pony... what's up?" Izuku asked, taking a seat. He didn't expect to see either of them in the area. The gravity girl shrugged with a smile.  
  
"Nothin', Izuku! I called Ochako this morning and I was all: Hey, you wanna go shopping! And she was all: TOTES!" Pony answered enthusiastically!  
  
"I didn't say totes, Pony..." Ochako quickly denied. "But I did agree! We actually hit up a few boutiques." There were a two bags next to the two new comers.  
  
"Oh, yeah! Ochako found the cutest capris for me! It was pretty great! I knew when we were partnered up at the USJ that me and Ochako would become great friends really fast!" Pony certainly was... exuberant. Ochako shrugged, smiling.  
  
"We work really well together, what can I say?" The four continued to talk for a bit, before Izuku offered to go get the other two ice cream as well, but Pony and Ochako said they had to get going anyway. Farewells were said, leaving Mei and Izuku by themselves.  
  
"Good for Uraraka, on making a friend outside our group." Izuku said, as the two walked off. Ochako was a friendly, out going girl and she really need to bloom.  
  
"Thanks for the ice cream, Izuku, but I really got to get going." Mei said, as she finished her own. "Science waits for no man or woman and will pass you by. And I got so many new ideas for the cutest babies right now! Maybe even something special for you." She planted a kiss on his cheek before she excused herself. Izuku watched her walk off, finishing his own before headed home.  
  
Only to run into All Might... well, Toshinori Yagi. It was easy enough to find out who worked at All Might's agency and finding the name of the skeleton man that was All Might's PR secretary.  
  
"Aaah! Mister Yagi!" He had just enough tact to not call him All Might in public like this, but he was still surprised to see the man out and about like this!  
  
"Young Midoriya, I was hoping we could talk." The man stated, as the two walked side by side.  
  
"Talk? About what?" What could All Might possibly want to talk to him about?  
  
"There are... rumors going around at the school." The blonde replied. Rumors? What...?  
  
"What kind of rumors?" What kind of rumors would be spoken about him? He was a bright student with a bright future and a powerful quirk. Their couldn't be anything that he could think of...  
  
"Young man..." All Might put a hand on his shoulder. "I certainly have no place to judge you for whomever you wish to be with, but I think it's important for you to remember that you are still a student. Your first priority should be school." ... oh... oh no. He found out. All Might had found out! Though he was a teacher as UA, but Aizawa-sensei only said that the Homeroom teachers of the faculty knew the Aphid's identity, and All Might, number one hero or not, was still a junior teacher! He could feel tears well up in his eyes, he couldn't just give up being the partner for the Tick, it would be devastating, and not just for the Wild Blue Yonder!  
  
"But... I... I've learned so much outside of school from being with him! We've done things I never known about! We're so much better together then alone! He's... he's opened whole new worlds for me! He... he completes me and help make me who I am today!" He began to plead. Being the partner to the Tick was the thing that saved his life. Sure All Might could see this, couldn't he? The frown said otherwise, though.  
  
"... young Midoriya, I think we need to start this conversation over." ... what? Wait, now Izuku was confused. "I was talking about your budding relationship with Young Hatsume, and how fast it seemed to be progressing." Oh...  oh... oh...  
  
"What are you talking about, son?"  
  
_Fuck. My. Life._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, if you'd like to follow along the discussion, you can always join us at the thread on SpaceBattles!


	21. Issue 19

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue #19  
  
It seemed that the worst kept secret of UA had to be that the fact that a student from Heroic Course 1-A was dating another student from Support Course class 1-H. Supposedly it spread like wildfire from the lunch room that the two had been dating for sometime already, before they both started at UA and that one followed the other. It was a rather innocuous rumor and Toshinori Yagi didn't pay any attention to it. Izuku was young and the boy easily attached himself to anyone and everyone.  
  
He just hoped that his relationship with Mei Hatsume didn't become a weakness that could be exploited by a villain. It's part of the reason why he never got involved with anyone, because he would find out and the people he loved would be at risk. Perhaps it was a case of self-cruelty, but a professional hero didn't have the luxury of being able to love.  
  
But then innocent innocuous rumors started to turn on their head. What was originally just two high schoolers dating and in, what some were calling, saccharine relationship. It had, in fact, taken a turn for the absolute worse! He over heard a pair of Business students in the hallway.  
  
"Do you know that weird girl from the Support Course? I over heard her talking to one of her classmates..."  
  
"Oh, what did she say?"  
  
"She said that all the baby making she was doing with her boyfriend was starting to pay off!"  
  
From there, the rumor quickly spread through the Business Department, before jumping ship to the General Education department. It seemed that people were avoiding going the Heroic Course or Support Course, though.  
  
Normally, he would ignore such rumors about students, but ... it came directly from Mei Hatsume... talking about making babies. Making babies with Izuku. And that their latest, vigorous session had borne fruit. He had to talk to the boy, while he was more then certain this was just a he said, she said rumor, he wanted to confirm it from the source himself.  
  
Unfortunately, by the time he had finally made his decision, school was done for the day. Meaning he'd have to look for the boy tomorrow. Honestly, it was surprisingly easy to find out where he was at, he did the smart thing and called Izuku's mother and asked where he could find him, saying that he was a member of the UA faculty and couldn't get ahold of his cellphone.  
  
According to Inko Midoriya, her son went to Coursan Park with his girlfriend and another friend of theirs. Apparently Izuku had promised to help his friend Hitoshi Shinsou to get in shape for the upcoming Sports Festival. The boy really was a hero, through and through, assisting what would have been his competition.  
  
Still, he thanked Izuku's mother, and headed to Coursan Park. He tried to not let himself get too distracted, but he was All Might! He could do a few rescues on his way, which he did, and finally managed to make it to the park in his non-heroic form. Couldn't have too many people reading into All Might talking with some kid off the street.  
  
Still, it was time to confront the boy!  
  
"Aaah! Mister Yagi!" Thank goodness the moss headed boy had the good sense not to call him All Might in public! Though he did think his choice of gym wear was a bit much. Running shorts a t-shirt featuring the ever prevalent Sandwich of Justice that was gaining in popularity since that video of the Tick went viral.  
  
They were walking side by side, outside of the park. "Young Midoriya, I was hoping we could talk."  
  
"Talk? About what?" The teen seemed confused. Of course he would be, it's not often that your mentor shows up and just starts stating they have important matters to talk about.  
  
"There are... rumors going around at the school." The look of absolute horror that Izuku gave him... it was too be expected. He's a strapping young lad with substantial power!  
  
"What kind of rumors?" That look of horror and puzzlement. He really mustn't have known.  
  
"Young man..." He put a hand on Izuku's shoulder. He needed a guiding hand, a masculine figure in his life to shape him into a great man. "I certainly have no place to judge you for whomever you wish to be with, but I think it's important for you to remember that you are still a student. Your first priority should be school." The teen looked at him, muttering and mumbling, even as tears formed in his eyes as he tried to form his words. Toshinori was shocked, the boy was too emotional some times...  
  
"But... I... I've learned so much outside of school from being with him! We've done things I never known about! We're so much better together then alone! He's... he's opened whole new worlds for me! He... he completes me and help make me who I am today." Toshinori frowned. He wasn't... what the hell was the boy talking about?  
  
"... young Midoriya, I think we need to start this conversation over." The boy stopped crying, at least, a shocked look on his face. "I was talking about your budding relationship with Young Hatsume, and how fast it seemed to be progressing." He saw as the boy's face seemed to fall, his mouth agape.  
  
"What are you talking about, son?"  
  
_AAAAAAAAAA! AAAAAAAAAA! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! WhatdoIdowhatdoIdowhatdoIdo! I can't believe I just did that! I am such an idiot! AAAAAAAAAA! He's expecting an answer, what am I going to do!?_  
  
Izuku Midoriya was speechless. He didn't know what to say. He felt like he fell into a trap, that he was tricked by the hero that always smiles. Of course, the logical part of himself said that wasn't what happened at all. He was confused, thinking that All Might had discovered that he was also working with the Tick. No, apparently he wanted to talk about his dating of Mei! What kind of rumors are going around about them?  
  
"Wait! What rumors!?" He was trying to change the subject, surely this would work!  
  
"I'll be happy to tell you after you tell me what you were talking about, Young Midoriya." Looks like that wasn't going to work after all. He had to think fast and come up with the perfect excuse. The perfect... lie...  
  
He couldn't do that, he wasn't going to do that! He swallowed and decided he was going to bite the bullet. He was going to tell the truth.  
  
"Are you aware of the Aphid Hunt going on at UA?" He asked the skeletal blonde. The Aphid Hunt... the freshman contest to figure out who among them was actually the vigilante sidekick to the Big Blue Bug of Justice: The Tick! All Might had some knowledge of it, and nodded.  
  
"I'm Aphid. I'm the Tick's partner. It's probably why I managed to finish your plan faster then you expected. I was running around with the Tick for over a year before we met. Trying to keep up with the Tick will force you to get into shape." He didn't know how else to say it. Just tell him the Truth.  
  
"That's why sometimes I seem tired, because I'm out being a hero until 1am." He took a breath, tried to steady his nerves. "Unlike my classmates, I'm at UA not to learn how to be a hero, but to improve my own heroism!" All Might was looking at him, he could see the Number 1 Hero's thoughts racing behind his sunken eyes.  
  
"So when you asked me if you could be a hero..." The blonde started. "You were already a vigilante, you were already a hero in your own mind."  
  
"I just needed someone else to believe in me... that's, that's all I really wanted." All Might nodded at the words of his successor. The poor boy needed support and he found it in the most strangest of places.  
  
"So, the Tick, huh?" He didn't know what else to say. If Nedzu's freshman Aphid Hunt isn't stopping the boy, he can't be sure that anything he told him would turn Izuku away from the path he was on. "Young man, I'm curious, what is your plan after UA? Will you hang up the Aphid's costume and focus on your new profession?"  
  
Izuku thought about it. What was his plan? He was already going out, night after night alongside with the Tick. He saw the parts of society where no hero ever went, where there were no cameras and no flashing lights and no cheering on lookers.  
  
"Being a vigilante, it's shown me that... there's parts of the world that need heroes that do not get heroes. So no, I don't plan on stopping. The world needs a hero that's always smiling, but it also needs the cheerful vigilante that goes where the heroes can't or won't."  
  
All Might didn't look surprised, he didn't look disappointed. He just looked... tired.  
  
"Young Midoriya..." He sighed, shaking his head. "I'm not going to try to change your mind, but I want you to think about what will happen. You'll be burning yourself at both ends. The power of One for All isn't as infinite as you think it is. And your plan will only last long enough until you get captured as a vigilante and you become the greatest scandal to ever affect Hero Society in living memory."  
  
"You're... not going to tell me to stop being a vigilante?" He was actually confused. It was just like with Principal Nedzu, they weren't going to just stop him.  
  
"Ordering you to stop would only make you resent me, slowly but surely." He shook his head. "No, I'd rather you think about what you're doing... about what you want to do."  
  
"You want me to make the choice for myself." That seemed to be something that both All Might and the Tick seemed to agree on. A person has to choose what they do with their life. All that someone like the Tick or All Might could do was influence that choice and decision, but they couldn't make it for the person.  
  
But something occured to him.  
  
"Wait a second. Those rumors you mentioned! What about them?" He needed to know what the hell was he talking about.  
  
"It deals with you and Young Hatsume. I don't personally believe it myself, I just wanted to make sure there wasn't an ounce of truth behind it." He shrugged. "But for what it's worth, I have no doubt you'd make a great father... in the future. Well into the future."  
  
Izuku felt like he died in the inside. "Oh..." It was a quiet loss of all coherent thought. Sure, biggest of misunderstandings. Mei referred to all of her inventions as her super cute babies and the creation there of as baby making. At least All Might didn't think he was being irresponsible, especially after he explained as such to the Number 1 Hero of Japan  
  
"But back to our original topic... I'm not sure what to think about the Tick. He is... admittedly... quite mighty. And his drive to be a hero puts him into dangerous situations." That was one way of putting it. Leap before you look and all.  
  
"But most importantly, I believe we should meet." No, no, no, no, no... that was a bad idea. The worst idea that Izuku ever heard! He couldn't... well, he could actually imagine the two of them in the same room, he shuddered at the mere thought.  
  
"I... I don't really think that's the best idea..." He felt All Might slap his shoulder.  
  
"Nonsense, my boy! I think it's for the best that your two mentors meet and discuss your growth as a hero!"  
  
_All Might and the Tick, in the same room, talking about me? I... thought for sure that would be the absolute worst thing that could happen to me. All Might would only have to be in the same room as the Tick for 10 minutes before coming to the same conclusion that Aizawa-sensei and Endeavor came too. And I was the only person in all of Japan that could keep the Tick somewhat calm and somewhat reasonable._


	22. Issue 20

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA Issue #20  
  
_All Might wanted to meet the Tick. The only problem was I didn't know how to find the Tick, even at the best of times, but... no, he wanted to go find the Tick right now and meet with him and who was I to tell the Symbol of Peace no?_  
  
"I... really don't know how to find the Tick, sir. It's just... he comes and he goes as he pleases. Sometimes he calls me. Sometimes I have to go looking for him." Izuku paused in explain how the Tick behaved to All Might. "He's not very... stable. Up here." He tapped his head.  
  
"In fairness to your friend, his first few meetings with professional Japanese heroes weren't exactly the best of circumstances." That was the most delicate way to put it, wasn't it? Best of circumstances? He attacked Aizawa-sensei without provocation and considered Endeavor to be a villain before they did battle.  
  
"I'm just saying, I don't expect to find him before the sun sets." Izuku was confident in his prediction.  
  
"EVIL DOERS BEWARE! I, THE TICK, AM SWORN PROTECTOR OF THIS BUS STATION!" There was no happenstance or coincidence in his life. There was only one explanation. The whole of the universe conspired to prove him wrong at every twist and turn!  
  
"Oh, hey champ! Fancy seeing you here!" The Big Blue Bug of Justice lumbered up to the two. "Hello!" He greeted All Might with a friendly wave.  
  
"Tick... I didn't realize you lived at a bus station." It didn't even make sense in context. Sleeping on a bench couldn't possibly been good for the Tick's back, but then again... as far as he knew, the Tick didn't sleep.  
  
"Pshaaaaw! Bus stations are great! You get to meet new people and it's an open public space, so you can never be kicked out."  
  
"I don't think that's actually true, but... uh... you got a moment?" It was always a delicate balance, trying to go and get the Tick to do anything you wanted that wasn't go out there and punch the bad guys, but it was a delicate balance that Izuku was an expert with.  
  
"Sure, sport! Got anything to do with your friend there?" He was pointing to the skeletal blonde behind Izuku.  
  
"Uh, yeah. Pretty much...!" He barely had time to say any more when both he and All Might were bundled up into the arms of the Tick and they were taken to the rooftops!  
  
"Wow... so that's what that feels like..." The blonde was usually the one doing the leaping with people in his arms, not the other way around! "Why are we on the rooftops, though?"  
  
"Easy, chum! Better visibility and privacy! From up here, I look over the city I've sworn to defend and can spot every crime as it happens! And of course, you wanted to go and talk, what place is more private then the city rooftops!?" Admittedly it was rather intelligent and well thought out... for the Tick.  
  
"I suppose that makes sense." All Might said. "You might want to take a step back, friend. What I'm about to show you...!"  
  
"Now, now, Mighty Man, you need not try to impress me!" The Tick interrupted. But... how... that...  
  
"How'd you know?" Izuku was confused, how could he have known!? If Izuku didn't know the staff of Might Tower by heart, he wouldn't have known either!  
  
"Easy, pal! Like me, Mighty Man has a glow! A heart just as big as my own! Why, you'd have to be blind not to see it!" The simplistic answer was always the best from the Tick. "But is this all you wanted to show me, though? That you happened to be pals with Mighty Man as well?"  
  
"It's more complicated then that." All Might said, and soon they explained to the Tick what was going on between All Might and Izuku.  
  
"EGADS! A power you can pass along to a new generation! Why if only I could pass my own quirk to the boy! Truly he would be both of our heirs!" Now that Izuku thought about it, he wasn't even sure what the Tick's quirk was. He always assumed it was super strength and his nigh invulnerability, but...  
  
"Just what is your quirk, Tick?" He eventually asked. The Wild Blue Yonder was the one who brought it up first.  
  
"Simple! I don't grow facial hair! Never having to shave has simplified my morning routine for years!" He was serious. Dead serious. And honestly, Izuku believed him. It was the only thing that made sense!  
  
"Though, this means that the boy had been lying to me this entire time!" The Tick looked at Izuku. "You're not doing the General Education track at UA, are you, Izuku!?"  
  
"Well..." Izuku never felt worse, under the gaze of the Tick, the weight of disappointment on him. And then the Tick laughed.  
  
"Don't worry, I'm just yankin' your chain! I am, admittedly, not the best teacher when it comes to such things. And if your power is as great as Mighty Man says, then you'll need all the help you can get!" The wisdom of the Tick, fully aware of his own flaws and the first to point them out.  
  
Izuku was actually surprised how well this was going. The Tick was surprisingly understanding about the whole thing and that this explained the nature of Izuku's new found strength so easily.  
  
"I was wondering where it was all coming from, but to think that you were chosen to be the next Mighty Man. To think that I might have had a hand in that, it's enough... oh, I told myself I wasn't going to cry!" The Tick started bawling, even as Izuku saw All Might shift to his hero form.  
  
"Isn't it just the most amazing thing!? To know what an effect you had on the next generation!" And he too started to cry, as the two largest influences of Izuku's heroism... shared a hug as they shed manly tears. This situation was getting awkward as hell and he wanted to be anywhere but here.  
  
Thankfully, the Bawling Brawling Brutes of Bodacious Beneficence stopped their tears and broke the manly embrace they shared, before trading several lighthearted blows.  
  
"Truly, Lady Destiny led me to the right boy child! A true heart of a hero beats in young Izuku's chest!" Their fists clashed together!  
  
"Indeed he does! We are both lucky to have found him!" Blows turned aside only to meet in a mighty hand shake, the two laughing as a little bit died on the inside of Izuku, exposed to such a display. He was certain that Eijiro Kirishima would call this a MANLY display, but... Izuku really didn't have the same opinion.  
  
"Quite the grip you have there, Mighty Man..." The Tick stated, straining as they continued to hold the other's hand in a steel hard clasp.  
  
"Yours is quite formidable, as well, my friend!" But finally, the hand shake broke after way too long for Izuku's liking.  
  
"Still, Mighty Man, I think between the two of us, young Izuku here has a bright career ahead of him."  
  
"Couldn't have said it better myself!"  
  
_I wasn't sure what I expected. After seeing the Tick break Aizawa's nose and fighting the number two hero of all Japan and winning, I almost expected the two to fight it out. But... they... liked each other. They were acting like a pair of high school buddies that hadn't seen each other in years and I wasn't sure what to think of this whole mess. At least the two heroes I respected the most knew about the other, so it couldn't have been all bad?_  
  
Could it?  
  
**Later that Evening...**  
  
He licked the blood off of his blade, savoring the salty meatiness of the crimson liquid. Everyone tasted different, everyone was different. It was like comparing different brands of wine, a good sommelier could tell the difference between two wines by the terrior alone. Heh, that made Chizome Akaguro an expert on the ways different people tasted.  
  
"You can come out from hiding now." An amateur at stealth, whoever they were. That's how you got caught, in the end. Thinking you were hiding, when in truth? You may as well had a spotlight shining on them. What crawled out, he could hardly call a man, more like a lizard. "Your parents know you're out this late at night?"  
  
"You're the Hero Killer..." Was the scaly youth replied. At least he had good eye sight.  
  
"Yeah, yeah I am." He pointed his sword at the hero, paralyzed in the back of the dead end alley. "And that's a hero, by the way."  
  
"I know who he is." The lizard boy pointed to the same hero. "Last week he stopped a robbery, but a civvie got killed on his watch." He looked to Chizome. "Are you going to kill him?" The Hero Killer let out a dark laugh.  
  
"The old Stain would have done so without question. But it's a new era for heroism, and so I must evolve with the times. Look at this pathetic wretch. He's young, he's scared, he's tortured by his own doubt when he couldn't save that man. He's barely out of high school." He turned back to the lizard boy. "But do you crush a flower before it has a chance to bloom?"  
  
"I'm... not much of a gardener..." Chizome rolled his eyes. Everyone is too literal these days.  
  
"I'm speaking in metaphor, boy. Did you know, in North America, where they have forests that are larger then our whole country, forestry rangers would go out into those dense woods and haul out dead wood before starting controlled fires? This would improve the overall health of the forest! The trees that survived the destruction that swept through the groves would be stronger for it, and the soils would be renewed by the ashes of the dead." He looked again to the frightened hero.  
  
"This... child isn't deadwood. He's no fake, not yet. He could be so much more. He just needs a little lesson. Something he wouldn't forget." He drew a knife and tossed at the feet of the lizard. He saw the scaly youth gulp before he picked up, approaching the hero. Chizome savored the fearful look in the hero's eye as the lizard slashed his face. An X on his cheek.  
  
"There... now he'll know. We held his life in his hands, and let him have it back. He'll see that every time he looks in a mirror. His friends, his family, his loved ones will know what we did." He handed the Hero Killer back his knife. "And he's marked, so if he fails again, we know he's no good for society." Chizome refused the knife, letting the lizard keep it.  
  
"We, boy? That's rather presumptuous of you." The lizard didn't even avoid his glare.  
  
"It's like you said, hero society is an old forest, filled with dead timbers and dying trees. We're the rangers working to keep it healthy, culling the dead and dying... the fakes and villains." The lizard looked up to Chizome. "My name is Shuichi Iguchi. I want to help you clear the forest." Chizome looked at him, an appraising eye for his new disciple.  
  
"You are wrong about one thing, Iguchi. We are not the rangers going out into the forest. We are the fire, burning away the detritus."


	23. Issue 21

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue #21  
  
_So All Might at the Tick had met... and they didn't get into a knock down, drag out fight that ended up destroying almost the entirety of the city. That surprised me the most, honestly. Especially after the Tick fought both Aizawa-sensei and Endeavor with little to no provocation._  
  
Sunday left a lot of Izuku's mind. The least of which was that both All Might and the Tick knew about the other. That the Tick knew where Izuku's new found power came from. Much as he wanted to go out that night with the Tick for some derring do, but both the Tick and All Might wished to do a team up, instead. Izuku dreaded to see the morning news.  
  
"I hate it when I'm right." The biggest news of the morning? Was the wild, two hour period where All Might, the Number One Professional Hero of All Japan... proceeded to run roughshod over villains and criminals alike, backed by the Big Blue Bug of Justice himself, the Tick! Amateur footage, new helicopter footage, it was like watching the greatest super hero team up movie ever made!  
  
For Izuku, at least. The rest of the country wasn't as Excited as he was. True, it did put the rumors down that All Might and the Tick were the one in the same, yet the true Tin Foil Hat crowd didn't believe it at all! And some talking head on the news who called himself an expert said that this could only hurt All Might's standings in the Pro Rankings, as it was blatant support for the vigilante. All Might's agency replied that the Symbol of Peace was free to work with whoever he chose, and while the Tick may be eccentric, a hero was still a hero.  
  
He yawned as he came up to the gates, and saw Mei waiting for him. "Mornin', Izuku!" She greeted, the two sharing a quick kiss. "Oh! You going to be busy tonight?"  
  
"Are you inviting yourself to dinner again, Mei?" Izuku asked. Not that he minded or anything, but there was such a thing as propriety.  
  
"No. Unless you want me too." She winked. "But no. This is more important then that, Izuku, you're gonna get rescued by your new favorite hero!" She looked over Izuku, who wasn't catching on. She sighed, just a little.  
  
"Aphid. You're going to be rescued by Aphid and we'll use it as evidence that you can't be Aphid!" Well... that wasn't a bad idea, actually.  
  
"Do you think the Tick will go for it?" She looked at him with her large, yellow eyes.  
  
"Do you think he'll even notice?" It was a fair assessment, he probably wouldn't.  
  
"Fair enough, what do you have planned?" She clicked her tongue at his question.  
  
"A magician never reveals her secrets, Izuku! You should know better!" He shrugged as they passed through the gates. He had a whole new day to look forward too at school.  
  
And not an hour later he was eating dirt. Basics of Heroism class, and today was sparring. It was good for them to know what the others in their class were capable of and to get used to each other's quirks. And right now, the class president was getting very used to the vice president's quirk.  
  
Momo Yaoyorozu spun the staff around her, looking at Izuku having just tripped him. He had gone for a charge, fist cocked back, One for All channeled into his legs to close the distance. "Midoriya, I hate to ask, but do you even know how to fight?" What the hell kind of question was that? He spat out into the dirt as he rose to his feet.  
  
"Yes, I know how to fight!" For his troubles he got whacked with the staff again, Momo completely by passing his form arm block as her swing quickly turned into a jab and got him right on the solar plexus, knocking the air out of him.  
  
Cocooning himself in the power of One for All, building up layer after layer after layer of power just beneath his skin was great at things like keeping him from getting cut, or taking a mighty blow fro a hand the size of his head like back at the USJ when they fought All Might, but a relatively fast moving attacking covering a much smaller, vital area pierced right through it.  
  
"That's not entirely true, Midoriya. You can brawl but that's not the same." She brought her staff down, but he managed to log roll out of the way and got back to this feet. Maybe she had a point! But he was more then just some upjumped brawler with power, dammit!  
  
"I'm more then just a brawler, Yaoyorozu!" He charged again, this time using his support gear, changing his direction on the fly with the skate function of his boots. "Gotcha this time!" Distance closed, circled around, and ready for the strike!  
  
It was a left jab, but the way he moved, he may as well have been telling her what he was doing the entire time! She struck out straight and true with a jab of her own, the end of her staff getting him in his arm pit, the shaft stuck in the crook of his elbows and across his wrist. Using his own momentum and the fact that her staff was made of carbon fiber diamond nanotubes, it was easy enough to send him up and over.  
  
"All that power and all that strength, but you be have like this is a tussle on a playground." She pulled the staff back and took a back step, letting Izuku rise to his feet again. "And you've barely used your quirk! If I was a spiteful woman, Midoriya, I would take that as an insult."  
  
"Is that what you want? You want me to use it against you?" Bringing his power to bear upon another student didn't really sound appealing, especially after what it did to Tenya. The taller teen's armor took the brunt of the damage that day, but he was still knocked unconscious and had to see Recovery Girl.  
  
"You're more then welcome to try." Momo told him, a smirk on her lips. Well, if she was asking for it...  
  
"I did warn you!" He charged it to his lower body, her charged it to his arms. She wanted this, then he was going to give it to her!  
  
Turned out, she was prepared for this, side stepping around him and literally kicking his ass, sending him down to the ground! However, he was falling forward this time, and used his hands to brace the fall and push himself back up... forgetting about the power in his limbs that sent him flying directly into the air.  
  
Not his best moment! He managed to twist himself in the air and through sheer luck and all his free running practice managed to tumble his way past Momo. Well then, time to do this differently, as he got back to his feet, grabbing his wrist! Long range, then! Channeling his power into his fingers, he prepared to use the same tactic that defeated Iida at the Battle Trial!  
  
Only to find that Momo was already charging him when as he flicked, and his green eyes widened as she used the staff to pole vault over the hurricane strength blast. As it was just a finger flick, and not even his strongest possible at that, she easily avoided the bullet of air!  
  
"Oh, hell..." Momo came down on him, a falling kick straight to his chest, both feet impacting! She had physics with her, Izuku had... well, being unprepared. Gravity, ever a harsh mistress, won out and he was on his back, Momo standing on his chest. Still, Izuku smirked!  
  
"Got you now!" With his hands on her ankles and power in his limbs, he tossed her off him and got back to his feet. He also made a mental note to see if he couldn't find a video on how to do a kip up, being able to jump right back onto his feet would be nice! He turned just to see that once again, Momo had used the staff to her advantage, using it to stop her fall, spun around it and kicked Izuku right in the head!  
  
He fell back with a crash, like the felling of a mighty oak. He thought about getting back to his feet. He had been losing this entire time. Anything he could do, Momo Yaoyorozu had a counter to. After much thinking, he tapped out.  
  
"Giving up, Mister President?"  
  
"Yaoyorozu, I could keep fighting you, but at this point, it's just an exercise in futility." She helped him to his feet. "You're the superior opponent."  
  
"Thank you, Midoriya. That's... thank you."  
  
"Though, if I didn't know any better, I would think that you were trying to teach me a lesson." He cracked his neck, the last kick felt like it gave him whiplash.  
  
"Perhaps I was. You have a lot of power, Midoriya. But power means nothing without skill. You... have you ever seen the footage of that vigilante in Mustafu?" She must be talking about the Tick. Because of course she was.  
  
"You mean the Tick? Yeah. I even seen him once or twice in person." She nodded at his answer.  
  
"You fight a lot like he does. Your moves are telegraphed from a mile away in exaggerated motions. For someone like the Tick? I don't think I could have picked him apart like I did you. He has weight and height to his advantage. His reflexes seem to border on the precognitive at times." She looked over Izuku. He didn't have a height advantage and any weight advantage was no matter for her, especially with her weapon of choice. "Sadly, Mister President. You have none of that."  
  
"So what are you saying I should do? Ask Mashirao to teach me martial arts? Sign up for boxing lessons? It seems a little late for that in my hero career." Izuku asked.  
  
"Perhaps, perhaps not. You have the ability for both long and close range combat, I also think your power excels at brawling, but you need to not telegraph so much!" Those were all good points. "Your power, it's basically a strength ehancement and boost quirk, right? Can you not use it to boost your agility? Reaction time?" He wasn't sure if there was anything basic about One for All and he wasn't sure if he could use it to directly boost his agility and speed with it. Sure, he could boost his running speed, but that was just increasing the strength of his legs.  
  
"That's... a very astute observation, Yaoyorozu. Thank you." At least combat class was over and he didn't have to worry about getting picked apart by Momo any more.  
  
"Also, there's something else I wanted to bring up, Midoriya." She said as they walked to edge of the training field to join the rest of the class.  
  
"What's that?" What could she possibly want to bring up. This was probably related to class.  
  
"I was thinking that, what with the attack by the League of Villains, that perhaps the class as a whole needs a morale boost. We need to get to know each other and keep from forming our little cliques. To act like a full class instead of a disparate association of several groups."  
  
"Like what? Going out for pizza or ice cream or something?" He asked. That... didn't seem like the worst idea, no.  
  
"Something like that. I'll present to you a plan first thing tomorrow." If she wanted to do all the hard work, he was fine to let her do it. At least he earned his lunch. Speaking of! With the basics course taking up both first and second period, it was just in time for lunch. After a quick shower and putting his uniform back on, it was time to head over to the cafeteria.  
  
He found Itsuka, Mei, and Hitoshi already there. The purple haired teen had his head on the table.  
  
"Girls... uh... is he alright?" He asked, taking a seat.  
  
"Pain covers me like a blanket of despair..." Hitoshi mumbled. "Tuck me in... let me die..." Oh, he was quote death poetry again.  
  
"Shinsou is still complaining about having to work out for the first time ever." Mei shook her head. Still, at least Hitoshi was trying.  
  
"He mentioned something like that." Itsuka said. "He said something about how you're helping him get into shape for the upcoming Sports Festival."  
  
"He asked for help, I offered. Honestly, if he wanted to be prepared for the Sports Festival, he should have started this last year, but..." He shrugged. "What can you do? It's not much, but it should be enough to get him noticed."  
  
"Just what is this exercise program you have him doing, Midoriya?" Itsuka was curious, because it could only be something truly excruciating from the way Hitoshi was acting.  
  
"Simple. I want him to run a kilometer in the morning and a kilometer in the evening. Yesterday I had him do 10 sit ups, 10 push ups, and 10 squats. Today, he was supposed to do 11 of each, and tomorrow it would 12..." It was really simple and should pay out dividends, especially if he followed the diet that went along with it.  
  
"That's it?"  
  
"There's a diet, too. Lots of leafy greens, lots of good fats, lean protein. We're trying to build up some muscle for him. It won't work miracles, but by the time the Sports Festival starts, he'll be... better." It was the most he could promise, he couldn't and wouldn't work miracles. Denki and Minoru soon joined them. Both were grumbling about who they had to face.  
  
"Man, Bakugo plays for keeps, doesn't he?" Denki said, as he sat down. Izuku could sympathize with him. Katsuki had a temper more explosive then his sweat.  
  
"You had it easy! Jirou whipped me silly!" Minoru groused.  
  
"Yeah, but you eventually won that spar with her!" Denki challenged.  
  
"Only because I creeped her out when I told her I'd tap, but only if she started to whip me harder!" The purple... haired... boy responded. "Now she things I'm into some weird shit and look at me funny..."  
  
"Or you could just tell her it was a psych out. I'm sure she'd understand. It's not like you've been up to anything. I mean, you told Aizawa-sensei about the hole in the locker room. And I know you didn't want to do it, but you did."  
  
"The old me would have leered through that hole without a second thought." Minoru said, nodding. "But that was the old me, the new me is a hero! Through and through. Oh! Iida said he was going to have lunch at the nurse's office, Todoroki froze his legs up something fierce and he needs his carburetor or something unclogged. I don't know." Interesting, to say the least. Still, that left Izuku wondering.  
  
"Where's Uraraka?" He hadn't seen hide or hair of the girl since finishing the basics of heroism class.  
  
"Oh, yeah. I know where she's at." Itsuka spoke up. "She's eating lunch with Pony today. Apparently Pony had ideas for how to train up Uraraka's quirk before the sports festival and wanted to go over them."  
  
"Huh. Okay, I suppose that isn't so bad."  
  
Lunch was soon over and the rest of the school day passed by fairly fast.  
  
_I had to give what Momo told me some thought. I need to be quicker on my feet, I needed to be better. I asked Aizawa-sensei if I could come into school early for a crash course on improving my brawling. Thankfully, he was easily convinced, turned out that he watched the spar with Momo and that was exactly the reason why we were paired up. And the more I thought about it, the more I thought I needed to separate my vigilante persona from my hero persona. I was... going to have to find a new way to fight as Aphid, and I had an idea I was planning on sharing with Mei later that night when we did the whole Aphid and Izuku in the same room plan, but I had no idea she planned on doing_ that!  
  
**LATER THAT EVENING!**  
  
The Tick wasn't dumb. Sure, he wasn't book smart or anything. That's why he had Aphid. He was there to do all the thinking and Tick was there to do everything else. But then he found out that Aphid was also the heir apparent for the mightiest professional hero in all of Japan, so maybe it was time they shared that burden.  
  
He didn't like the idea of having to come up with ideas on how to fight villains that weren't just punch them into next week. Or break their lair into thousand of tiny pieces. Still... it would probably be a lot of fun anyway!  
  
Getting to their usual meeting point, he found Aphid. But... he also found Izuku. This... confused him, looking between the two. Izuku was blushing heavily, unable to speak in clear sentences.  
  
Aphid, on the other hand... while the costume was recognizable... the green pants were just a bit too tight... the sweater just a bit too snug in chest and hanging loose in others and in leaving the barest bit of Aphid's belly exposed.  
  
But what really got him thinking was the fact that with the hood of the sweater down, he could see the pink hair of the vigilante.  
  
"EGADS! Say it isn't so, Aphid! You've been BRAINBOOZLED with Miss Hatsume!?"  
  
**< \--- To Be Continued**


	24. Issue 22

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue #22  
  
"Tick, that isn't what happened after all." Izuku said. Brainboozled? Where the hell does anyone get that thought. Really, he was more worried that Mei's whole idea was to cosplay as him. It was obvious that it was some body else dressed in a sexy Aphid costume. How did she expect this to work.  
  
"Now, now, young Miss Hatsume, I know this might be strange for you, but don't do anything you don't want Aphid doing with your body." ... ... ... obvious to anyone that wasn't the Tick. Mei, on the other hand, was giggling to herself.  
  
"You'll have to forgive her, Tick. She's not used to being in such a manly body!" Mei put an arm around Izuku's shoulder, and pulled her in tight. "But I made sure she knew that I was going to be the perfect gentleman until we figure out how to under do our brainboozling!"  
  
"And yet you still plan on going out and being a super hero!" The Tick was getting emotional.  
  
"Oh, absolutely! Miss Hatsume's body may lack my strength, but through her absolute genius, I shall forever endeavor to be a hero!" She winked at Izuku and held a V for Victory!  
  
"Still, just the same, my boy, we're going to have to take it nice and slow tonight. We don't need to hurt young Miss Hatsume's body." Izuku put his head in his hands. This was worse then when All Might and the Tick met!  
  
"I mean, look at her, she's obviously upset!" The Tick was still pointing at Izuku.  
  
"She's just up set that her latest baby ended up scrambling our brains." She smirked, looking at Izuku. "Besides... there's some benefits to this happening!" And she placed her hands on her chest!  
  
"Oh, I cannot believe you!" Izuku shouted at Mei! She was making him look like a pervert!  
  
"Now, now, Aphid! I know that the two of you have those... lovey dovey feelings, but just because you got yourself brainboozled like that isn't any reason to take advantage of your feelings and the situation! Now then, I fully expect you to apologize to young Miss Hatsume." Right. This was actually happening, wasn't it?  
  
"Sorry, Hatsume, that I ended up groping your awesome rack while stuck in your body." The under current of barely contained laughter was there. The Tick looked at Izuku expectedly. Was this really something that was happening? He had to accept Mei's apology because the Tick was certain that the two of them had swapped bodies? That he was actually sputtering when he showed up because he didn't know how else to deal with the fact that his girlfriend was cosplaying as himself?  
  
But no, the Tick, the Wild Blue Yonder... the great Big Blue Bug of Justice... assumed that they had swapped bodies and that Mei, dressed as Aphid, was in fact Izuku, taking his heroism to the next level by still going out this night and heroing it up... just in Mei's body. And that Izuku, embarrassed and angry, was actally Mei and didn't want Izuku to mess up her body through daring acts of derring-do.  
  
And then Mei decided to go and run with it by acting not only decidedly not Izuku like, but treating him like he was some kind of horny teenager that would take advantage of his girlfriend like this! Gaah, it was enough to make him rip out his hair! He grit his teeth, forced a smile and looked at the two.  
  
"Yes. Apologies accepted, Midoriya." The utter insanity this night was turning into was almost too much for the teenager to bear!  
  
"Excellent! Young love triumphs over all adversity, like a great digging machine triumphs over a mountain! Now then, Aphid!" He turned to Mei. "Due to the current particularities of your condition at the moment, we'll be nice and slow tonight. Stay out of any fight that you don't think you can handle with your current body!" The Tick was telling Izuku, who he still believed to be in Mei's body, to take it easy. Of course he was.  
  
"Absolutely, Tick! But! Hatsume said she had some ideas she wanted to tell me. Before we got all scrambled!"  
  
The blue clad hero scratched his chin, and nodded. "Absolutely! I'll see you in five minutes!" With that, he leapt off the roof. As soon as he was gone, Izuku stared at Mei.  
  
"The hell was that, Mei!?" Izuku... wasn't furious, but the idea that his girlfriend did... that while the Tick thought she was him...  
  
"What? I was just having a little fun. This is even better! The Tick thinks I'm you, so no one would be none the wiser for treating me differently."  
  
Izuku looked at Mei... at his girlfriend... at one of his most precious people in the world.  
  
"Just because the Tick immediately thought we swapped bodies doesn't mean anyone else is going to see this... admittedly wonderful display... is going to think the same thing. We don't even look the same..."  
  
"Isn't that the whole point, Izuku? To have you and Aphid in the same situation to throw all the heat off you?"  
  
"Well, yes. But we look drastically different is what I was saying. So different that someone is going to compare me in my Aphid costume and you in your Aphid costume and realize that it's two different people. Maybe it'll work, maybe it won't is all I'm saying." He certainly wasn't complaining about her wearing an Aphid costume, she could do that as long as she wanted!  
  
"I wouldn't worry about it. I got a voice changer built into the mask and once the hood's up... trust me, no one is going to know the difference. Anyway, you said you had an idea over the phone, right?" Oh, right. He did have an idea to further separate his hero persona from his vigilante persona.  
  
"Sorry, I kinda got distracted when you showed up..."  
  
"I know, I really make this costume look good, don't I?" Oh, she certainly did, but that was a distraction! He had to focus!  
  
"Sorry, yes. Could you make a staff for me to use as Aphid? Something that could handle the strength of my quirk?"  
  
"Hmmm..." The pinkette tapped her cheek with a finger. "It's doable, I'm certain I have enough data, but I'd have to do it on weeknights at home. If I'm making a staff for someone at the Dev Studio, they'll want to know who it's for and that's a hassle I don't want to deal with."  
  
"I know, you have problems enough with Power Loader. I don't need it immediately, but sooner would be better...." Mei rolled her yellow eyes at Izuku.  
  
"Izuku, when I first started making gear for you, I thought it a nice fun hobby. But now, I may as well be working for a Support Company. You want me to give you the moon and you want it yesterday." She was right. He was asking for her to give him the moon.  
  
"... I'm... I'm sorry, Mei. I really shouldn't take advantage of you like that. Take advantage of our relationship and..." He was mumbling and he was muttering and briefly silenced when Mei put a finger to his lips.  
  
"Izuku... you're not taking advantage of me. I like building these things for you. Heck, I like you!" She had both hands on his shoulders. "So stop it with the pity party just because I'm joking around!" Izuku took a deep breath. Mei was right. He shouldn't have to think that he was ruining everything just because someone made a joke.  
  
They were dating. They were allowed to joke around like this! Mei Hatsume cared enough about Izuku that she was willing to dress up in a... he was still incapable of believing that she was dressed in that! He had to clear his head. They had a plan they needed to execute, to keep the Aphid Hunt on Izuku's trail still cold. How hard could this be?  
  
Apparently, very hard. The sound of someone else hitting the rooftop caused Izuku and Mei to turn their head towards the source. It wasn't as heavy as the Tick, so it had to be a third person.  
  
And a third person it was. They were dressed in green... honestly, it looked a lot like the Aphid costume, but it had all the tenants of being 'legally distinct' Or at least Izuku was sure that's what it was called, he wasn't in the business course. But the horns? Those were recognizable.  
  
"Omigosh! Aphid's the crazy girl from the Support Course!?" And the voice confirmed it.  
  
"Pony? What are you doing here?" It caused the new comer to freeze.  
  
"What? Who's this Pony you speak of, Izuku?" She was doing a really bad job of not looking like herself, even with the rip off home made Aphid costume. "I'm Tree Leaper! Defender of justice! Besides, I don't even act like Rodeo..."  
  
"Oh, come off it! You just admitted it was you, Pony!" Izuku would think that by this point he was used to dealing with crazy and/or silly Americans, but no, there was no way to truly inoculate yourself against this.  
  
"Well, maybe I did! What's so wrong with that! You're dating a vigilante, Izuku!" He felt a headache coming on. He couldn't believe this was happening. First the Tick thought that Mei and Izuku had swapped bodies and now he had Pony Tsunotori believing that Mei was in fact Aphid and... she was also a fangirl.  
  
"Besides all that, why are you here, Tsunotori?" Mei finally spoke up after she was done snickering.  
  
"Oh, I wanted to meet the Tick. He's my favorite hero back in America! Or at least he was my favorite hero when I lived in The City! Wanted to get his autograph." Well, he couldn't go and fault her on that, if the Tick was her hero... and he watched as Pony pulled out her cellphone and snapped a picture.  
  
"But now I know who Aphid is!" ... wait. And the the blonde took off.  
  
"Wait!" And Izuku gave chase, leaving Mei standing there, eyes blinking at the sudden turn of events.  
  
"Pony! It's not what you think it is!" She was faster then him, even as he forced his power into his legs. He didn't want to use too much, he saw how the Tick's roof top leaping more often then not left the masonry crumbling.  
  
"Oh, and what is it, Izuku? What could it possibly be?" They managed to cross a few blocks already, one vigilante chasing a wannabe. He had to think quick, give her something that was actually convincing.  
  
Though it looked like the only thing he had going for him at this point, was something completely embarrassing.  
  
"Mei's dressed like Aphid because I asked her too... because... because..." They finally slowed down, as Pony turned to hear Izuku's confession.  
  
"Because I like seeing her wear superhero costumes and pretending to save me." A little bit died inside of him. There was no way that Pony was going to believe him. No one could ever fall for such a blatant, obvious lie...  
  
"... really? That's so sweet that she'd do that for you! Oh... and she makes her own costumes, doesn't she..." She pulled out her cellphone, and looked at the picture again. "I can't believe I interrupted true love like that over something stupid like getting the Tick's autograph!" She gave Izuku a hug. An awkward, awkward hug.  
  
"Errr... it's no problem, Pony... just... you know... don't go tellin' anybody about this. They might get the wrong idea..." The blonde American nodded.  
  
"Absolutely! You're secret is safe with me, Izuku! Besides, I should head on back home, anyway. But next time! Next time I shall meet the real Tick and the real Aphid!" With that, the blonde ran off, waving at Izuku, who sheepishly waved back.  
  
What else was he supposed to do? His life was just getting more and more complicated. His life was turning into a bad comedy, at every turn. He really wanted to go back home himself. His grand plan was a bust, one of his classmates probably thought he was a creeper and was just being polite.  
  
He sat on the edge of the roof, thinking about how his night was going.  
  
"Tonight really was a bust, wasn't it?" He turned, and saw Mei joining him on the roof.  
  
"Yeah. How'd you manage to get away from the Tick?" In all fairness, the ease in which Mei managed to do it left Izuku a little jealous.  
  
"Hmmm? Oh, I just said that whatever had us scrambled finally wore off and I was back to being Mei. He gave you the night off due to the circumstances." She looked around. "Where's Tsunotori?"  
  
"... I may have convinced her that you aren't Aphid. She kind of lost interest after that." That piqued Mei's interested.  
  
"And how did you manage to do that?" She only wanted to know more when she saw the blush form of Izuku's face.  
  
"I ... I may have convinced her we're into hero play instead..." The pinkette laughed raucously, slapping Izuku's shoulder.  
  
"What? Really? That's hilarious! I can't believe you would have thought of that!" She was still laughing, as Izuku kept blushing. At least one of them thought this was funny.  
  
"I suppose tonight is a bust, then." Other then embarrassing himself thoroughly, nothing of note was actually achieved tonight.  
  
"Maybe not a complete bust. It was kind of a date, wasn't it?" She placed her hand on his, their fingers interlocking.  
  
"I suppose they can't always be magical." Still, when she rested her head on his shoulder, overlooking the city, this wasn't so bad after all, all things that happened considered. "Hey, Mei... I just..." He didn't even know if he could say it. It shouldn't be this hard!  
  
"I know, Izuku. I feel the same way."  
  
**NEARBY!**  
  
The Tick overlooked the two lover birds. It did his heart some good to see that despite all the adversity that the two went through, that they were still capable of being so close.  
  
"Truly, in this world, all it takes a is a good brain scrambling to figure out what's really important." But, he had given the boy off. He'd need it, especially after snapping back to his own body.  
  
Oh well, it didn't matter. The Tick was the Wild Blue Yonder! He was more then capable of taking care of ne'er-do-wellers on his own! On the other hand, while crime may never sleep, nor does Justice, sometimes... just sometimes... a break does do the body good. Perhaps one he could take himself. Recharge.  
  
And so it was back to the Bus Stop for the Tick! His secret hide out... the one place he knew he could put his feet up, relax, and let the sweet nothings of the coming and going of public transportation lull him to sleep.  
  
What he didn't expect, waiting for him, was the green haired woman in the smart suit, waiting for him.  
  
"You and I need to talk, Tick." Inko Midoriya told vigilante. "About what you've done for my Izuku..."


	25. Issue 23

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue #23  
  
The Tick stared at the woman before him. He had to think fast, try to come up with a most cunning ruse about all of this. It would take all of his brain power! All of his thinkiness!  
  
'You have reached the Tick's Brain! We're sorry, but we're currently not in at the moment, please leave a message after the tone and I'll get right back to you in the order I received this call! Thank you!" Well then, plan B!  
  
"I don't think I know what you're talking about, Mrs. Midoriya!" Ah ha! Let's see her deal with the Mental Might of the Tick!  
  
"I never introduced myself, Tick." ... curses! She was the most clever of opponents. A formidable opponent on the field of brain battling! It would take all of his cunning to deal with her. Braino e braino!  
  
"I never introduced myself either." Ha! Take that! She passed him something. It was a cut out from the newspaper ad he placed last year. Oh, she was good!  
  
"That matters not! I'm a famous superhero!" He had to resist his famous charge that he is MIGHTY!  
  
"You certainly are. You also saved my son." She shook her head. "Even if only from himself." The Tick clicked his tongue.  
  
"I wouldn't say I did anything special. Izuku is a good lad, someone would have pulled him up out of that mess had I didn't!" He watched the green haired woman shake her head.  
  
"I don't think so. Izuku... he didn't take Hisashi's death very well, not that I can blame him. Neither did I, honestly." She closed her eyes, counted to ten, and let out a held breath. "Listen, that doesn't matter. You did something special for what is left of my family and I can't have you just exposed to the elements like this, living in an open air bus station."  
  
The Tick let out a laugh! "Ha! Didn't you know! I AM MIGHTY! I am NIGH INVULNERABLE! Exposure to the elements means nothing to a powerful super hero like myself!" He slapped his chest, but looked at the woman, just the same. "And you won't take no for an answer, will you?" He was savvy enough to know when he lost.  
  
"Please... just... you've done so much for me and Izuku... let me do something for you."  
  
**THE NEXT MORNING!**  
  
The Tick had to admit, he slept on less comfortable couches during his time as a super hero... but it was nice to be in the warm embrace of domestic goodness once more! Currently, he was rummaging through the cabinetry of the kitchen, trying to find something for breakfast. He was kind enough to start a pot of coffee.  
  
"C'mon, they gotta have something edible...! Oooh! Drama Flakes! My favorite!" Grabbing the cereal and some milk from the fridge, it was easy enough to find a spoon and bowl and he went back to the room with the television, taking a seat on the couch. He didn't pay attention to it's creaking and bowing, but instead checked to see what was on.  
  
"Hot dog! New episode of Super Sentai Quironger? Best morning ever!" And he got to catch up on his favorite cartoon! How awesome was this!? He should've talked to Izuku about moving in ages ago! Speaking of which, he saw his green haired ward tiredly walk into the kitchen, wiping the sleep from his bleary eyes.  
  
"Mornin', sport! Wanna watch cartoons with me?" The Wild Blue Yonder asked of Izuku, who's reply was to yawn and shake his head.  
  
"No thanks, Tick. I gotta get my morning jog in as it is."  
  
"Oh well! You enjoy that, chum!"  
  
Three.  
  
Two.  
  
One.  
  
There are certain things that cause someone to instantly sober up, to instantly startle awake, to instantly realize that the pink fog of comforting lies that they've always lived with has been pulled away from their eyes and they see the disastrous truth for what it is.  
  
"TICK! What are you doing here!" Izuku came to his senses, and yes, that wasn't a nightmare or an illusion, but the Tick was sitting in the living room watching a stupid toku series on the television eating cereal.  
  
"Watching the TV?" Was the Tick's reply. Izuku thought he felt his face go numb, as he slapped a hand it.  
  
"I know that, Tick... but why are you here in my home! What if my mom spotted you!?" Before anything else could happen, Inko Midoriya made her presence known.  
  
"He's here because I invited him to live with us!" That was... unexpected. Not what he thought at all. But... for her to invite the Tick, then....  
  
"But... Mom, how could you know...?" The part of his brain that led to his muttering was starting to spool up as he tried to figure out what mistake he made in the last year or so that would have proven that he was the partner to the Tick.  
  
"Izuku, honey, the first time the Tick showed up, he broke into our home. Look at him...!" She motioned at the Tick, still eating his cereal. "He's about as subtle as a baseball bat to the nose."  
  
"She's right, you know!" The Tick commented between bites of Drama Flakes. "Besides... this'll just make it easier to be superhero partners, living under one roof!" This did nothing to help with Izuku's stress.  
  
"But... he's a vigilante, Mom! If they track him down to here, I could get arrested!" Izuku pleaded his case, but his mother's face had the same passive stare.  
  
"I doubt they'd arrest All Might's successor." You could hear a pin drop in the room, the air thick between Izuku and his mother.  
  
Only broken by the Tick's revelry at his television program. "Oh, that Unpronounceable Cluster of Consonants, when will he ever learn!?"  
  
"How... how do you know all these things!?" Everything that Izuku knew had been a lie, or at least the last few years had been... not as he thought. Inko Midoriya walked over to her son and gave him a hung.  
  
"Sweetie, I'm not stupid. And I know you're not just a late bloomer." Izuku felt wetness in his eyes. He didn't haven't to hide from his mother anymore. About anything. "Besides, Mister Yagi told me."  
  
Oh, well... that would explain it.  
  
"As for the Tick, Izuku, I know he can be a handful. I follow the news... but... two years ago? You just existed, you were just trudging through life. If I hadn't known any better, I would have said that going to a regular school was a mistake and you were regressing." Izuku would have agreed, but he was certain... he was certain if Katsuki was like the Kaachan he knew growing up, he would've been fine.  
  
But as it was, he had just sunk further into his depression, letting the weight crush him with it's weight until he was pulled up. The Tick probably did save him, and maybe his mom by proxy.  
  
"We've had our ups and down, honey, but... I think." She sighed. "I think for the first time in a very long time, the house finally feels like a home. Tick might not replace your father, but... he's done so much for us, that I think we should do something for him." Izuku nodded, hugging his mother back. A brief moment, before the separated.  
  
"Anyway, Izuku... I have to go into work early, make sure Tick has a key before he goes up." She went over to the door. "And have fun at school, Izuku!"  
  
There was a brief moment of silence, as the show Tick was watching went to commercial break and the superhero finished his bowl of Drama Flakes.  
  
"You know what, lad, your mom is a classy lady."  
  
Izuku chuckled. "Yeah, yeah she is." He still had his morning jog to do, before he went off to school. He'd be a hypocrite if he had Hitoshi jog each morning and wasn't doing the same!  
  
**ELSEWHERE!**  
  
"Stop cheating!" Tomura Shigaraki was having none of this! Finally, he managed to get his shoulder in good enough condition that he could use a controller... and finally found someone just as interested in video games as he was, but... damn it! The Brainchild was a filthy cheater!  
  
"Who's cheating? Git gud!" Was the brat with the domed brain's reply, as he continued to spam the same move over and over and over again. Gran Torino was only put into Hero Fighter V as a concession to All Might. No one ever played the old man. He was short, his range was awful, and true to life, the old man's attacks didn't hit very hard.  
  
But all this meant that the hit box was tiny compared to Tomura's fighter of choice, and his dash kick was unblockable! The little bastard was just spamming it, over and over and over again!  
  
'Torino wins! FLAWLESS VICTORY!' The announcer stated, as Tomura's life bar finally emptied. All Might had failed him once more! First as a hero, then as a character in his favorite video game!  
  
"How... how dare you!? How dare you win using a joke character like Gran Torino!? HOW CAN YOU DO THAT!?" Tomura had never been this upset before. He was seething, scratching at his neck. "YOU CHERRY TAPPING TURTLING SPAMMER!"  
  
"Dude... we're super villains. Get over yourself!" Tomura felt his eye twitch, his temper was flaring.  
  
"Listen here, you little brat! I'm the leader of the League of Villains! You best start showing me some respect!" Ha, threaten the child with authority!  
  
"Or what, you'll scratch your neck at me? Oooooh, I'm so scared!"  
  
"And you're an immature bastard, that can't win without cheating!" That'll show him!  
  
"I know you are, but what am I?" CURSES! Curses on this child and his entire family line from his ancestors to his grand children!  
  
"Next round! Bring your A Game, Brainchild! Best five out of seven!" And once again, they booted up the game and selected their characters.  
  
At the bar, Kurogiri was talking with one of the latest acquisitions to the League of Villains, one Atsuhiro Sako, Mister Compress.  
  
"So... that's the glorious leader of the League of Villains... losing a playground spat with a 14 year old?" He tapped his fingers against his cheek, watching as the gray haired man continued to rant at the child about cheating at a video game.  
  
"I'm MLG PRO, dude! You're just a poser!" The Brainchild seemed to know just which buttons to press on Tomura Shigaraki to get him going, but not to get him to attack. It took skill.  
  
"The people that pull our strings, Compress, they seem to see much potential in Shigaraki. If you saw him at the Invasion, you would have a much different opinion." Kurogiri replied, pouring a drink for himself and Compress.  
  
"I'm sure I would." He continued to watch the display of immaturity, even as he clinked glasses with the warp quirk user. At least, in the end, the money was good. Though he did wonder just who was pulling the strings of the League of Villains...and just what potential they saw in Tomura Shigaraki.  
  
Oh well, that was a question for another time.


	26. Annual 2

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Annual #2  
  
**Twelve**  
Izuku Midoriya's life was changing way to fast for him. The Tick was living with him.... he didn't know what to think. Still, he wasn't going to let a little thing like this stop him from being a hero... from learning how to be a better hero!  
  
Speaking of which, Aizawa-sensei said he'd help him before school with the whole being a better fighter. He was just... wondering where the Erasure Hero was.  
  
"Midoriya!" He bared turned when he found his gym uniform slammed into his face. "Get suited up, meet me at training field 8. Perhaps we'll figure out a way to get you from woefully inept to merely bad."  
  
Oh, excellent. Izuku could always count on Aizawa-sensei's particular brand of encouragement. Still, in a few minutes he was in his gym uniform and at training field 8 and saw that it wasn't just Aizawa-sensei, but Ojiro Mashirao was there as well.  
  
"Mashirao will be helping us with this." Aizawa went on to explain that he specifically requested that Momo spar with Izuku and to pick him a part and poke holes in him like the backstory of the protagonist in a bad mystery novel. "The very nature of your quirk grants a strength similar to that of All Might... or the Tick. I'm to guess that you've taken some inspiration from the both of them, Midoriya?"  
  
"... well, All Might is my favorite hero, sir! And I've ran into the Tick a few times and saw him in action...!" He was cut off by a single gesture from the pro hero.  
  
"The point is that All Might and the Tick have a size advantage over you. They can get around with brawling, but they aren't just throwing heavy, unskilled punches. Did you see how they defeated the Noumu together at the villain invasion?"  
  
"Yes! They overwhelmed Noumu's shock absorption quirk by punching it!" Izuku quickly answered. Aizawa shook his head.  
  
"Incorrect. Between the two of them, All Might and the Tick landed some 300 punches, but they were precise and well timed. Their blows only hit ten specific points on Noumu's body, at the same time, front to back."  
  
It occurred to Izuku that perhaps there was some sort of strategy involved, but their blows were so fast, that he could barely see them himself.  
  
Still, Ojiro was more then happy to assist Aizaw with teaching Izuku the barest of basics when it came to hand to hand combat. How to put power into his punches from her shoulders, how to use his full body in a swing.  
  
He even showed him how to do a hip toss, how to use an enemy's momentum to throw them over his shoulder!  
  
"We're not going to do anything with kicks, that requires a sense of balance and limberness that I'm not sure you have at the moment, and we don't want to over load you too much. This is just to make sure you give a good performance at the Sports Festival." They had just wrapped up, class was going to start soon, but a half hour of that? It really got Izuku's blood pumping. Especially knowing that he was going to do this again, tomorrow. And the day after that.  
  
"Mashirao, I'm just... I'm curious, why are you helping me? We could end up facing each other in the third leg of the tournament." He really wasn't used to people wanting to help him, he was the quirkless loser in middle school and here he was having support from all sorts of sides he didn't expect.  
  
"It's really simple, Midoriya. I wouldn't want to face an opponent that wasn't at 100%. It would be a disservice to us both." Was the young blonde tailed man's reply. Izuku thought about it, then clapped Ojiro on the shoulder.  
  
"Thanks, Mashirao. I really appreciate it."  
  
**Eight**  
The Rated 18 hero, Midnight, was a bit... well, surprised. She wanted to talk with Principal Nedzu about a few things, but finding his office dominated by a single white/cork/black board was a bit much. Apparently the principal was keeping track of the Aphid Hunt quite seriously.  
  
A lot of pictures, and a lot of string managed to create a tangle that only a hyper intelligent mouse... dog... bear? could follow.  
  
"Quite the set up, it's like the reveal in a movie and we see how insane the conspiracy theorist really is." Midnight commented, nodding, as she looked over everything on view.  
  
"It might be a tad much, but it's the best way to look over the Aphid Hunt. Unfortunately, we had our first strike out." He motioned to a picture of Neito Monoma, with a huge red X over it.  
  
"Mister Monoma broke away from his team to make his accusation on who the Aphid may have been. Unfortunately for him, motive and ability isn't hard evidence at all." The principal sipped from his tea.  
  
"Who did he think was the vigilante?" She was curious. Neito seemed like he had a chip on his shoulder and wanted to prove something, but... pride comes before the fall.  
  
"He believed the Shoto Todoroki was the Aphid. It's no secret that Endeavor's son has some deep seated disdain for his father, if you know what to look for. So Mister Monoma used that as motive, that Mister Todoroki wanted to hurt his father in some way. And as he comes from a rich family, Mister Monoma suggested that only someone with wealth like that could purchase the support equipment that Aphid is known to use." Was Nedzu's reply. Midnight gave a laugh, a noblewoman's lilt filling the office.  
  
"Oh, he must've been upset to discover that he was wrong." She shook her head, looking at the central white board, a picture of Izuku Midoriya in the very center.  
  
**Four**  
The whole business of operating a decentralized alliance of villains with the singular goal of killing the Number 1 Hero of All Japan was... Tomura wouldn't say it was tiring, but the fact that membership was difficult (who knew people would take offense at the whole abandoning eveyrone to the heroes), the real issue at hand for him was dealing with those that were members.  
  
Sure, there was the Brainchild (the cheating cheater who cheats!), but the kid was only a kid and while brilliant, wasn't exactly going to make huge waves when it came to supporting the League in a proper financial way.  
  
Which lead to where he was now. Chairface Chippendale and his Triggermen Society had been in Japan for a few weeks now and it was time to talk about... well, paying the League it's dues. It was also a bit of a shakedown run for a new recruit. He wasn't sure about having too many children in the League of Villains, but if Giran was right about this one, she was a perfect fit.  
  
They would have to see.  
  
"I'm actually surprised, Chippendale. I hadn't heard a damn thing about you in the news. Here I thought a big shot American gangster like yourself would've set up all sorts of criminal activity." Tomura was smirking, it felt good to rub it into the other man how unsuccessful he really was.  
  
"It's all about being subtle. When you come into a new area, you can't go about and step on anyone's toes. That's how gang wars start. Let me show you what we've been doing!" He lead the two through the warehouse that he had turned into his base.  
  
Toka? Taka? Whatever her name was, the girl in the school uniform was looking around as Chippendale showed off just what was going on in his new headquarters.  
  
"Would you believe, Tomura, that there is only one facet of illicit activities the local gangsters won't touch? It was down right shameful that no one was exploiting this." Chairface seemed rather happy with himself.  
  
"And what's that?" Tomura wasn't sure what he could be talking about. They didn't seem to be processing drugs, or counterfeiting money, or any of the other various cliche criminal actions. On a table next to them, Chairface picked up one of the t-shirts folded on it and tossed it at Tomura.  
  
Silk screened onto the cloth was a stylization of Stain's mask, the mad gleam in his eye palpable.  
  
"Bootleg hero and villain merchandise." He walked over to another table, and picked up a tankobon off it. "Not long after we arrived, we managed to bribe, coerce, and cajole a few artists that were making hero and villain related fan comics to work for us. It's tripe. The worst sort of garbage! But we're on the third run of the first volume printing, so someone's buying it!" He threw the book at them, the girl catching it, and rifling through the pages.  
  
"Oh, wow... that _is_ explicit! Can I keep it?" The gangster waved her off, and Tomura caught a glimpse of the cover. The R18, the Red Dot, the fact that it prominently featured the pro heroes Eraserhead and Present Mic, he could guess just what it featured.  
  
"So this is your grand scheme, Chippendale? Bootleg T-shirts? Off brand action figures? Turning yourself into a peddler of porn?" He felt a grin coming along. Oh, this was better then he could have ever hoped for!  
  
"You laugh, Tomura, but last week we managed to pull in one hundred thousand dollars. Or ten million yen. The Triggermen Society controls eighty five percent of the bootleg market in southern Japan!"  
  
... ten million yen? In a single week? Perhaps there was something about this...  
  
**One**  
"So this is the great hero Ingenium!" The Hero Killer, Stain, chuckled darkly. This was just what he lived for. To see the fear in the eyes of the fakes and the losers as they lay paralyzed in the grip of Blood Curdle. "All that speed made you cocky... made you weak." He was chortling, monologuing.  
  
For Tensei Iida, this was not the position he wanted to be in. To be in the grip of the hero killer, unable to move his limbs, paralyzed as the man ranted at him with his insane views. He could feel lightness returning, though... the grip was starting to waver. If he could just keep the man speaking, perhaps... perhaps Ingenium doesn't die here tonight!  
  
"But that's just the way it is with the fakes and losers of the world, Ingenium. No one can be selfless anymore, can they? You have a legacy to uphold, don't you? Is that solely why you're a hero, I wonder?" There, he took his eyes off Tensei for just a moment. That's all he needed as he charged!  
  
... only to find something crash into him! He didn't realize that Stain had a partner! On the tall side, well muscled, and scaley... wielding a strange sword that seemed to be made out of dozens of knives held together with wires, belts, and duct tape.  


"Aaaah... thank you, Spinner! You've made a most apt pupil!" The Hero Killer looked over to Ingenium and frowned. "Perhaps a little too apt..." The hero was holding his hands over his stomach, the weapon cleaving through his armor and through his guts.

"What was I supposed to do, sensei?" Spinner didn't want to kill a hero, fake or not. He wanted to improve this society, not kill people! He watched as his teacher, his master, walked over to the hero, tilting his head as he got down on his haunches, running a finger through the blood coating the armor of the Engine Hero.

"Well, well, well... you're in luck, Spinner, you didn't kill him! Probably almost nicked his liver." He looked over Ingenium, smirking. "Oh, foolish Ingenium... don't you know?" He dragged his fingers over across the hero's mouth and cheeks. "A hero that doesn't smile is hardly a hero at all!"

He laughed at his own cruel joke, rising to his feet as Tensei Iida's vision spun and grew dark.

  
**Day of the Festival**  
He stepped up on shaky legs. He hadn't realized that being number one at the entrance exam meant that he would have to give a speech at the start of the Sports Festival... it just seemed to surreal! Especially when all the classes were introduced... with Aizawa-sensei and Present Mic doing commentary. He thought that perhaps the other classes could get their own introductions as well, but there was just such a huge focus on the heroics course...  
  
"I'm not very good at giving speeches, but apparently since I got the highest score in the entrance exam, I have to give one. The motto of UA is Plus Ultra! And you hear the teachers and upperclassmen talk about going beyond our limits! They make it sound like it's difficult, but it really isn't. Not for me. Not for the rest of the heroics course students. But it's not difficult at all for those in Support, Business, or General Education. We can all go beyond! Because we are MIGHTY!"


	27. Issue 24

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA Issue #24  
  
_This was it! The UA Sports Festival. A big, nationally broadcasted display of the greatest superhero school in the country! A place for young would be heroes to show off their quirks, to let professional heroes see just what the students were capable of! I would have wished they told me that I had to give a speech, instead of waiting for the last minute!_  
  
"What do you mean I have to give a big speech?" They were waiting for the opening ceremony, in the little dugout, looking out into the arena. The Sports Festival was a simple set up. A three part tournament for each of years, with breaks between for those that couldn't proceed to show off their skills with other recreational sports.  
  
"Sorry, Midoriya, you got the highest score in the Practical Exam. Highest score in the practical exam for the freshman year gives a speech to open the Sports Festival." It was odd, he usually found it so hard to talk with girls his own age, but here he was, talking with Midnight and not stuttering, sputtering, , or back tracking.  
  
"Couldn't I have been told this at any time before five minutes before the Festival starts?" It was a good, well thought out point. How could he possibly give a speech worthwhile to all the people in the stands, and the thousands of people at home, watching on the television.  
  
"That's a very astute observation, Midoriya. But it wouldn't be as fun otherwise!" She left it at that, laughing as she headed out to the arena. Well, that was it. He was boned. He was going to go out there and he was going to give a speech and it was going to be god awful and everyone was going to see him and it was going to follow him for the rest of his life!  
  
"I don't think it's going to follow you for the rest of your life." Minoru Mineta spoke up. "And you really need to stop with the muttering like that, people will learn all your horrible secrets if you keep that up."  
  
"They want me to give a speech, Mineta. They want me to stand up on a podium and give a speech about... I have no idea!" He was going to be a complete failure and the laughing stock of the school and no one was going to want to take him into their agency because he's going to be the kid that messed up the speech at the Sports Festival!  
  
"MIDORIYA! You're doing it again!" Minoru's outburst was enough to get Izuku to stop muttering. "I believe in you, buddy, whatever your going to say? I'm sure it'll be great!" Well then... Izuku couldn't disappoint a friend like Minoru.  
  
"Thanks, Mineta. I'll just give it my all and hope for the best. It's what I always do." And with that, the freshman class was called to take to the field! There was a rush as 1-A exited into the stadium, the lights and the roar of the crowd was both blinding and deafening!  
  
It was exhilarating!  
  
1-B came out next!  
  
Izuku frowned as Present Mic, the MC for the festival, then called out the rest of the courses, where as the Hero courses got introduced one after the other. It was unfair, especially since he knew that Mei and Hitoshi were going to give their all during this!  
  
"With the highest score of this years practically exam for the freshman class, please, give a hand for Izuku Midoriya! He's got some words for us all!" Present Mic called out, as Izuku took his steps up to the podium, each one shakier then the last. He gulped as he looked at the microphone, and took a deep breath.  
  
"I'm not very good at giving speeches, but apparently since I got the highest score in the entrance exam, I have to give one. The motto of UA is Plus Ultra! And you hear the teachers and upperclassmen talk about going beyond our limits! They make it sound like it's difficult, but it really isn't. Not for me. Not for the rest of the heroics course students. But it's not difficult at all for those in Support, Business, or General Education. We can all go beyond! Because we are MIGHTY!"  
  
**~~~**  
  
The Tick wasn't one to be sneaky pete sneak sneak, sneaking around sneakily, infiltrating a complex as... err... complex as the UA campus, but the boy was going to be in the festival and he needed to be their for him! He adjusted the Tie he was wearing, looped around his neck and sitting on top of his costume. The good ol' hypnotic tie, he had forgotten that he had such an item and honestly, such a piece of apparel was important for the crime fighter on the go.  
  
"I'm sorry, who are you supposed to be?" He was barely into the arena when one of the local lawful dispensers of Japanese Justice confronted him. He tried to place this one. Short, but compared to the tick, everyone was! Orange hair... no shirt. Some kind of construction theme going on, but he had seen weirder.  
  
Of course, the last thing the lad wanted was for the Tick to go about and broadcasting that he was here. He thought for a moment, then a moment longer, then a third moment when it dinged on him.  
  
"Hello! I'm Nick Placeholder, intrepid reporter for the Dagobah Muckraker! Here to report on the amazing students of this grand institution, nay, this Temple of Youthful Heroism!" He finished triumphantly! Always had to speak from the diaphragm. The moment you started speaking from the throat was the moment that people started to not take you seriously anymore.  
  
A beat passed.  
  
Then another.  
  
"Sure, we'll go with that. Just make sure you stay in the stands." The Tick nodded at the pro hero, giving him a thumbs up.  
  
"You got it, pal!" Hey, this was going easier then he thought! The power of the hypnotic tie! He'd have to get something similar for his young ward! Anything that worked for the Tick would work doubly so for the Aphid and the three pound universe in his ol' noggin.  
  
"Oh, hey, you wouldn't happen to know where the concession stand is, do ya?"  
  
**~~~**  
  
The whole freshman class was lined up. The first leg of the tournament was a relay race through 4km of hazards and obstacles. Midnight was explaining some of the rules. There would be traps, their would be hazards, their would be hazards not unlike the ones they faced in the practical exam. Izuku felt himself tense up. This was it. The first leg. This was the cut off. They were only going to take the first 40 to cross the finish line, quirks were allowed, and they were allowed to be hazardous obstacles to each other.  
  
He felt like he was cheating. His Aphid costume was so simple, so ramshackle, that he was doing the same thing from the practical exam. Wearing the shoes from his Aphid costume to make use of it's functions. Hero courses weren't allowed to use support gear, but the other courses were if they could register it before hand. He saw Mei with her new and improved hover soles.  
  
The pinkette waved at him. He waved back with a smile. He was heads over heels for her!  
  
... ... ... and then he was literally heads over heels as he wasn't paying attention and the start of the race happened and the push of the masses bowled him over! Great, the were only letting the first 40 in and already he was behind! And that... was why he brought his Aphid gear! Because he had to make up for it!  
  
Left and right, everyone was using their quirks! But Izuku had spent the better part of a year keeping up with the Tick, this was child's play! He could do this in his sleep! He may not be a trained traceur, but he was good enough at free running that he quickly left the peloton behind and pulled towards the front!  
  
He could hear Katsuki's explosions to the front and saw the ice that Shoto had set up! Ha! He laughed at all attempts to stop him! HE WAS MIGHTY!  
  
He could see and hear Mei laughing, having the time of her life as her support gear kept her safe from the hazards and she was pulling ahead! Pony and Ochako were working well together, using Pony's speed on the charge to circumvent hazards and Ochako's quirk to float away any debris!  
  
He could see Tenya pulling towards the front as well! Speeding towards Shoto and Katsuki! He could see Itsuka and Denki well within the pack.  
  
He saw Minoru trip and fall and had the bright idea, still running he grabbed the boy by the collar.  
  
"I'm not about to let you fall behind, Mineta!" He cried out, even as he continued to run! The burn his legs were the same as a good run, his power flowing through his body as he achieved a sense of zen!  
  
He did much the same with Hitoshi, grabbing the other violet haired boy he knew off the ground and slung him over his other shoulder  
  
"You guys hold on tight! I'm gonna do something really stupid!" How much more stupid could it be? Weighing himself down with his friends was one thing! Doing that while dodging the villain robots from the practical exam was another! And yet he still managed to do so, his runner's high keep him up, his state of zen never changing as each step was deliberate and rote!  
  
"When you say really stupid...!" Hitoshi's words were lost as Izuku leapt into the air, and came crashing down right into the minefield. Using One for All, building layer after layer after layer on his feet... on his legs... The force of his impact was enough to set the whole field off... and with his legs and feet protected by his power, it was enough to launch him and his allies into the air, straight across, and at great speed!  
  
Past Katsuki.  
  
Past Shoto.  
  
Past the finish line!  
  
_"AMAZING! LOOK AT THAT TEAM WORK! NEVER IN MY YEARS HAVE I SEEN ANYTHING LIKE THAT!"_  
  
_"... what team work? He practically carried them over the finish line himself!"_  
  
That he did, twisting his body much like he did with Itsuka at the USJ during that fight with All Might, making sure that when he landed, it was himself and only himself that took the blunt force!  
  
"Did... did that just happen...?" Hitoshi was speechless, lying next to Izuku, dazed and confused. When he stumbled, he had thought about using his quirk, getting someone to carry him... but that was what a villain would do, and he wasn't a villain. He was going to be a hero and that was his choice.  
  
"I think I'm gonna be sick..." Minoru wasn't feeling much better at the whole ordeal. He certainly didn't expect himself to get past the finish line like this! As soon as he tripped, he knew it was over, only for Izuku to once again prove what a stand up guy he was.  
  
Izuku sat up, he wasn't even breathing hard, and had a grin miles long as Shoto and Katsuki came up, a look of shock on the face of the number 2 hero's son... a grimace on the explosive teen.  
  
"Todoroki, Katsuki... what took you two so long?"  
  
**~~~**  
  
"Why are we watching this?" Tomura wasn't sure what to do, what to say! Why they hell were they watching the UA Sports Festival? It was enough to make him sick, the damn kids that ruined EVERYTHING.  
  
"You kow what your problem is, Tomura?" Right, because Chairface said they should. Because some big shot American gangster was soon calling all the damn shots in HIS League of Villains! "Your problem is that you went off half cocked. You only knew which class was going to be there and who their teachers were going to be. But you never thought about what powers they had. And that's why it failed."  
  
The Brainchild was playing a little hand held and didn't look up from him. "Mister Chippendale is saying that this is good recon for those kids and something you should have done already." Tomura looked at him, then looked at the hand held.  
  
"Hey! You got that out of my room, you little brat!" Tomura snatched it out of the Brainchild's hands. Little bastard had just finished entering in a high score. At first, it was just gibberish, until he started paying attention to it.  
  
T S O  
O U M  
M C U  
U K C  
R S H  
A S !  
  
He looked at the child, with the exposed brain covered in a dome and the shit eating grin on his face. "Have fun with that, Tomura!" All of his high scores, wiped out! Removed! MOCKED! He already felt his hands on his neck, pulling down. Slowly, but surely, this brat was turning into his worst enemy.  
  
"WILL THE TWO OF YOU PAY ATTENTION TO THE CHILDREN WE WANT TO KILL AND NOT TO SOME PETTY SQUABBLE!"  
  
**~~~**  
  
"I have to admit, Yagi... that was some kid you picked." The VIP lounge was one of many in the UA Sports Arena, and this one only had the two occupants.  
  
The Symbol of Peace himself, All Might... Toshinori Yagi. Well, not in his heroic form, but with the privacy provided by the lounge, he didn't need to worry. The other in there, with him?  
  
The Superian himself. One of the greatest heroes to have ever lived! To be constantly active for the last 90 years. And one of Nana Shimura's greatest friends, and her predecessor's greatest allies.  
  
"Young Midoriya is something else. Seeing him in action, I don't think it's possible for the boy to not be a hero. Look how he helped his friends." He turned to the Superian. "75 rescue points. Can you imagine? No one ever got 75 rescue points!"  
  
"I wouldn't know, myself. Never went to a hero school. Didn't have them when I was growing up." It was hard to imagine that the other occupant was over 100 years old. Over the years, the only signs of aging the Superian had shown was some grey at his temples, other then that, he was still in his prime.  
  
"Quite."  
  
"So did you tell him?" The Superian had asked, causing Toshinori to pause, as the air was sucked out of the room. He looked at anywhere but the other hero.  
  
"No, no I have not."  
  
"Why not? The first thing Nana did when she gave you One for All was tell you why! She told you why you were chosen and she told you about him."  
  
"Because I don't need too! Because he's dead! The ruins were scoured for a full month and they never found a body!" He found himself yelling and it was making his chest hurt, his one faulty lung working over time.  
  
"You and I both know that doesn't mean a thing. Without a corpse to bury or burn, he may as well still be out there." The other hero sighed, heavily. "Listen, I've been around the block or two... I turn 105 year old this year, and all that I've gained from this life? From this "job"? A list of dead friends that grows every week and some grey hair at the temples. You need to tell him. If he's going to be a soldier in this war..."  
  
"I don't want him to be a soldier in this war, though! This war is finished! I know you knew Nana longer then I did, and I know you knew her predecessor, but I made sure he paid for what he did! For what he did to everyone!" This wasn't him, he should stop, but his friend... he was dredging up too many bad memories, too many failures that happened.  
  
"You know, it's funny. Nana's predecessor? He wanted me to take One for All. He said it was the only way to truly defeat that monster. One for All merged with every quirk before, so why not with mine? Hold it for a few years, let it stockpile and pass it on to someone worthy. You want to know what I told him? I told him in the history of shitty ideas, that was the shittiest." The man shook his head. "I've joked in interviews before that Superiority lets me do odd things, like having eye beams that turns coffee pumpkin spice flavor, but it's more then just that..." Toshinori was speechless, listening with rapt attention as the other hero spoke.  
  
"Listen, I found Superiority's limits... decades ago. When I lifted that island out of the ocean, that was probably my upper limit, or close to it. Superiority gives me over a thousand documented abilities... and maybe another thousand I never even discovered. But could you imagine someone with the power of One for All and Superiority?" He gave a small laugh. "Hell, had I took it, I probably wouldn't have any need for a successor, but that's the point. One for All needs to be passed, like a torch, from one generation to the next."  
  
"Would have certainly made fighting him easier if I had your quirk with One for All." Toshinori said, thinking of all the surgeries that he went through. As long as he knew the Superian, which honestly wasn't that long in the grand scheme of things, he never seen him bruise.  
  
"Maybe, maybe not. I think Superiority, for all it's power, has a draw back. I think it's a siren for villains. You're the Symbol of Peace. Your very presence keeps crime down. The Superian? Ha, I get anyone with a little bit of power and a chip on their shoulder willing to do whatever it takes to defeat me. That's the difference. And if that's true? Then One for All doesn't need that."  
  
"Hn. You make it sound like it doesn't already..." Toshinori replied, mournfully.  
  
**~~~**  
  
The next leg of the tournament was something different, as Midnight explained the rules. Each of the finishers from the obstacle race were to be fitted with a sensor vest and a "laser" pistol. Apparently Snipe had saved up a dozen or so favors and gotten the usual first year cavalry battle changed to something that he was calling a royale deathmatch.  
  
With lazer tag.  
  
Midnight explained that while they were going to be allowed to use their quirks, they could not affect the vests sensor, nor could they affect the pistol itself. Eliminations were via pistol only, but one could use their quirks as well.  
  
Teaming was possible, but only the last 16 standing would be the ones to continue on to the third leg of the tourney.  
  
With everything said and done... the next match started, with a field specially crafted by Cementoss while Midnight had explained the rules.  
  
Every man for himself! Quirks allowed with in reason. Whittling 40 down to 16. Royale style.  
  
Unlike the obstacle course, there was no push, just a release of everyone into the field of combat!  
  
Preparation? Not much one could do. Quirks? Everyone was equal on this field, for the most part. They couldn't damage the pistols and they couldn't damage the vests, but the first call out from Present Mic was when Shoto, creating an honest to goodness ice diamond in his left hand and using it to scatter the laser of his pistol and eliminating 5 contestants in one shot!  
  
That was the offensive way to play. The defensive way to play would be to avoid any type of combat at all.  
  
All you had to do was survive. It wasn't by elimination, it was by survival only! You only had to be tagged once and you were out, but Izuku knew how to play it smart, new how to cover his lanes, as he sneaked around the corridor of the battlefield, before he back bumped another player and turned to face them and!  
  
"Dammit, Izuku! You almost gave me a heart attack!" It was Mei.  
  
"Me!? What about you! I can't believe they let Snipe decide on a battle royale." They got to chatting, as they covered each others backs.  
  
"Apparently it kept everyone on their toes, everyone was expecting a cavalry battle and then they dropped this on them. I think they just wanted to change it up and are using Snipe as as scapegoat." Was Mei's reply, using her quirk to keep an eye up and down the corridors.  
  
"But lazer tag? What are we? Little kids?" Izuku stated, only to get a gasp from Mei.  
  
"Izuku, how could you! Lazer tag is awesome. It's nice to have something that's fun, especially with a one on one fighting tournament after this!" Mei really wasn't a fighter, but Izuku knew she had some tricks up her sleeves.  
  
They kept creeping, it was hard to keep track of the time, especially with their being over head cameras as the students were all in the maze when finally, a green light dinged on their pistols.  
  
"Hey, look at that! I think we proceed, Izuku!" Looks like they both were. Defensive play in a royale like this was probably for the best.  
  
Then of course, they got to see who else had made it out alive.  
  
Katsuki Bakugo. Shoto Todoroki. Ochako Uraraka. Minoru Mineta. Fumikage Tokoyami. Hitoshi Shinso. Eijiro Kirishima. Iida Tenya. Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu. Yuga Aoyoma. Denki Kaminari. Ojiro Mashirao. Hanta Sero. Ibara Shiozaki.  
  
The brackets for the fighting tournament portion would be announced after a break for the sixteen finalists.  
  
This was going to make or break Izuku... and he was honestly looking forward to it!  
  
**~~~**  
  
_"ALRIGHT PEOPLE! THE FIRST MATCH OF THE DAY! We have two of 1-A's rising starts! Katsuki Bakugo and Shoto Todoroki! GIMME A YEAH IF YOU WANNA SEE THEM BEAT EACH OTHER UP!"_  
  
His muscles were taut, waiting for the fight to start, fists clenching and unclenching. First fight of the Freshman Tournament and Katsuki Bakugo was not just in the zone, he was well on his way to cementing his legend. The Practical Exam, the Battle Trial, EVERYTHING ELSE BEFORE THIS, was merely a setback! And even better, the half and half bastard himself, Icyhot! Oh, he was going to enjoy and savor this!  
  
He hoped that Midoriya was watching. So he saw what horrible fate awaited him. True, he would have preferred if he got to face that bastard himself, finally beat what the hell he was thinking and get some closure for all this bullshit between them, but he was going to let taking down Endeavor's kid whet his appetite.  
  
"Hey, you know what, Icyhot? I'm feelin' particularly magnanimous. You go and forefeit and maybe I don't know your ass into next fucking week!?" He finished his sentence with a snarl. Sure, maybe he was feeling it. He was really hoping Icyhot didn't go for it, because he wanted make his face match!  
  
"That's presumptuous of you, Bakugo." Was the bastards reply. Katsuki cracked his neck. Sure, it was his funeral. He waited for the tart of a pro hero that was acting as referee and as soon as she said begin, he fired off like a firework, crossing the distance of the ring as fast as he ever had!  
  
60 seconds! NO DOUBT! If Midoriya could win a Battle Trial in just over a minute, then Katsuki Bakugo was going to out do that fucking bastard by at least 15 seconds!  
  
His vision tunneled as he covered the distance, his explosion quirk working overtime as he launched himself into the air, extra explosions changing his direction. He assumed that his left side was the one with the bad eye, and always kept himself on that side, dodging the bastards ice!  
  
"GOTCHA NOW YOU HALF AND HALF BASTARD!" He ducked under a lance of ice and slammed both hands under Icyhot's chin and gave him the full howitzer! So what if his ace up his sleeve was played early? They were doing this prison style! Using Explosion once more, he launched himself into the air and landed a heavy follow up attack, sending Icyhot out of the ring.  
  
It wasn't his problem, now that he won. Showed that fucker right. He WOULD NEVER let anyone look down on him!  
  
He watched as Icyhot's body arced through the air and a swoosh of color seemed to snatch him out of the air.  
  
"You... have one hell of a quirk, kid." ... ... ... no fucking way, Icyhot got snatched right out of the air by the SUPERIAN!? The hero looked to the tart. "Shoto Todoroki is unconscious." And the hero, one of the greatest heroes in the world, ONE WHO RECOGNIZED HIS STRENGTH, made his way to the field's exit.  
  
Pfffft... what kind of man was Icyhot? To be rescued and carried bridal style like that?  
  
"Shoto Todoroki is unable to proceed. Katsuki Bakugo is the winner." About damn time she announced it, but...  
  
"How long did it take, tramp!" He asked her, dusting off his shoulders and spat to the side.  
  
"I'm sorry?"  
  
"You heard me! How long did it take me to kick Icyhot's ass!?" He bluntly asked, noticing the frown. PFffft, if she didn't want people to call her out, she shouldn't dress like that.  
  
"We don't keep track of the fight times, now get out of my ring."  
  
He gave out a growl, but did so. Still, it was satisfying. The arena was silent, all were basking in awe at Katsuki Bakugo, as they SHOULD!  
  
**~~~**  
  
Endeavor was livid. He told the boy specifically not to embarrass himself and what did he go and do?! He felt his anger boiling inside him. Everything he did for the boy and once again... ONCE AGAIN! If only he would use his fire, he would have defeated that upstart, but no, Shoto's rebellious phase once again has brought shame to this family once more!  
  
As he pulled the door open, someone else forced the door closed. Who would dare...!?  
  
"You're not going in there." He turned to face whoever this deadman was and found himself face to face with the Superian.  
  
"... you're keeping me from my own son?"  
  
"Boy has a concussion. The last thing he needs is his father to slap him around." Was the other hero's reply. Endeavor felt his flames burn hotter, but the other hero wasn't intimidated.  
  
"How dare you! Everything I've done to Shoto was for his benefit!" The other hero shook his head, holding up a finger.  
  
"I've seen a lot of messed up things in my life. I've seen abusive parents, but I've never seen anything quite like you. A monster that pretends to be a hero. Not many people know how many abilities my quirk gives me, I like it that way, keeps them guessing on the forums, but I'll let you in on a little secret. One of them is something I call medical psychometry. Soon as I snatched that poor boy out of the air, I knew every single injury he ever suffered and I knew just what caused them." The words from the hero were enough to make Endeavor pause, his body going still.  
  
"So here's the deal I'm gonna make with you: Clean up your act, I'm not even asking you to be a better father, be emotionally distant, be stern... but stop torturing the kid. Or I'll make sure that everyone on the planet will know just what a monster you are and it's going to be your word against mine." He just started to walk away, and pointed at Endeavor. "Think about it, Enji! I'm only making this offer because you've done good things!" He was all smiles as he clicked his tongue, but Endeavor... had never seen a look so terrifying.  
  
**~~~**  
  
_"We got another great match lined up for you folks! Izuku Midoriya vs... Minoru Mineta! Can a friendship as strong as theirs survive the ring of challenges!"_  
  
"You nervous, Mineta?" Izuku's first fight in this bout was against Minoru Mineta. It was... it was surprising that the boy made it to the fight portion of the Festival, but the last event, the laser tag, benefited a lot of people that normally wouldn't have been.  
  
"I'm shaking in my boots, Midoriya, but only because I'm excited!" Minoru replied. "You've done so much for me, that... that... I have to give it my best! So don't hold back, Midoriya! Because I won't!"  
  
"Wouldn't want it any other way, Mineta!" Izuku had a wide grin on his face, as Midnight began the fight.  
  
It was a scant minute into the fight when Izuku came to a startling conclusion fighting Minoru: It was like playing against someone in Hero Fighter that was skilled with Gran Torino. Barely any power, but such a small hit box. And Minoru had an advantage that Gran Torino didn't have! His quirk, Pop Off... they could be used to set up traps, to set up obstacles!  
  
Honestly? It was nothing compared to the relay race, the first leg of the tournament, with it's giant robots and land mines! Dodging to the left, side stepping to the right, it was all about foot work and just like Gran Torino in Hero Fighter, if you knew what you were doing, even All Might could get around the small hit box!  
  
Dash. Slide. Kick. Hop up back to your feet, and land an air combo. Honestly, that was a lot easier to do with a six button controller. But it was the only thing he knew to do in such a situation! He took his power, One for All, felt it flow through his body as he dashed as fast as he ever had, dropped down into the slide and kicked at the much smaller boy!  
  
It had worked! He was too fast for Minoru, catching the other in the side and sending him airborne! He followed through with his momentum and got back onto his feet and grabbed Minoru by the the collar!  
  
"Sorry, Mineta... didn't mean to send you that far out of the ring." It was a ring out, true, but Izuku didn't want Minoru to get hurt flying out of the ring. He wasn't Katsuki.  
  
"Minoru Mineta is unable to proceed by ring out! Izuku Midoriya is the winner!" Midnight called out.  
  
"Hey, Mineta? Good job, you almost had me!" Izuku told his friend, as they walked off.  
  
"Thanks, Midoriya. And thanks for not holding back."  
  
**~~~**  
  
Wandering the halls of the arean was starting to get on the Tick... sorry... Nick Placeholder's nerves. Sure, he found the concession stand. He even got a soft pretzel! But the fact was, finding out where he was supposed to be was being difficult.  
  
"How hard can it be to find the exit to watch the actual festival!?" He caught the fight with the explosive lad and the ice boy while he was in line, getting a hot dog and a soft pretzel and unfortunately, the Japanese didn't under the necessity of serving fizzy drinks in cups the size of a barrel, but alas, he was merely a foreigner leaving in a strange land.  
  
He found a door that seemed promising, and proceeded to open it.  
  
He did not find the entrance to the arena, but rather the ice boy, in a bed, as if he walked into an infirmary. Oh, perhaps he did so! Well...  
  
"... what are you doing here?" Oh, the ice boy was awake.  
  
"Errr... uh... uhm... Nick Placeholder! Dagobah Muckraker. Would you care to make comment on the fight with Premature Explosion Lad?" There was a blank stare from the lad with the half white, half red hair.  
  
"Uh... huh..." He didn't seem like he was buying it! Time to ask a question and play some pretend!  
  
"According to the announcer, one Presentation Michael, your superpower is referred to as Half-Hot, Half-Cold. Well, I saw plenty of cold out there, but where's the hot!?"  
  
"... what? I don't have to answer you!"  
  
"Is that on the record?" He could feel it, he could feel a connection. The superhero in training looked aside, then answered.  
  
"No. Yes." He looked back to the Tick. "It's complicated! I swore never to use my father's power!"  
  
"Well, you're half way there already, pal! You're father wasn't out there with you, was he? Unless I saw a different fight!" He was scribbling on his note pad. He was certain he should have been writing down what the kid was saying ,but he was just drawing, it was more enjoyable!  
  
"My father is the Flame Hero, Endeavor. I get fire from him on my right half, from my mother..." He closed his eyes, muttering to himself. "It doesn't matter! I'm not using my father's flames! I can be a hero without his power!"  
  
"... okay, but you seem to be doing it. Well, half way I suppose." He tapped the pencil against his jaw. "Like, he's got the flames, but you got both the flames and the ice. Seems to me you're only usin' half of what you got. I mean, hey, if that's what you wanna do and not use all your power, sure. Fine. Your choice."  
  
There was a look of confusion on Ice Boy's face. "... what?"  
  
"Hmmm? I said if you wanna go and not use all of your power, go right ahead. I can't stop you. I can't force you. Nor can your father, I guess. But you know... one of these days, the fires of your Righteousness will one day be needed! And on that day, perhaps it would be better for it to be a roaring bonfire, then a little spark." The Tick shrugged. "Once again, your power, etc etc etc. Here ya go..." He ripped off the page of the note book and handed it over to Ice Boy.  
  
It was a simple drawing of the boy, holding an oval with a line through it. "I should probably get going! Plenty of others to interview and all that!" And with that, he took his leave.  
  
As for Shoto Todoroki... he wasn't sure what to think. That was most certainly the Tick... and maybe he was little light headed from the concussion. Or the painkillers... but he was starting at his hands. Ice forming on his left... wisps of flames on the right.  
  
"... my power. My.... power..." He clenched his hands, the ice turning to steam, the fire turning to smoke! It was... something for him to think about.  
  
**~~~**  
  
_"LAAAAAADIES AND GENTLEMAN! We now have Katsuki Bakugo... vs Ochako Uraraka! Let's give both of them a nice big YEAH before starting this match!"_  
  
Another one ready to bite the dust, to feed the growing legend that was Katsuki Bakugo. He couldn't let himself get too cocky, though. The round faced bitch that was with Midoriya was just as complicit in his embarrassment that felt like eons ago. Oh, and boy was he going to make her pay!  
  
The fight was started and he charged, once again! But she was paying attention, she saw how easily he defeated Icyhot in the first match. No matter! All she could do was make things float? How hard of a fight could she possibly be?  
  
A lot harder then Katsuki was willing to admit, in all honesty. The previous fights were starting to take their toll on the ring and there was plenty of debris for her to use. The amount she could control was astounding, and her ability to throw them around even more so!  
  
Sure, they may be weightless, but they still had mass, and that was what really mattered in the long run! He barely managed to lean out of the way of that single piece of rubble, a sharp edge cutting his cheek.  
  
He slowly turned to face the girl, smiling.  
  
"Oh, it is ON!" And he charged back into the fray, dodging to the left and to the right! All he had to do was outlast her and he could win... he would win!  
  
BUT FUCK THAT!  
  
He was Katsuki Bakugo! He wasn't going to win because he managed to tire out his opponent! He was going to win because he ended it! He launched himself, exploding his way through her wall of debris and landed a single hit, his fist crashing against the girl's stomach.  
  
There was a brief moment of perfect clarity, as he landed the blow... as he managed to set off an explosion. Just a little one, just enough to add a little pep to his punch... she folded around his fist and flew up a foot before coming down again.  
  
He held his fist high! To the cheer of the crowd! He was roaring with laughter! Was their no one that was on his lev-  
  
His revelry stopped as he was hit by a stray piece of debris, clipping him in the back of the head. He turned around and saw her rise to her feet.  
  
"I'm not done yet, Bakugo!"  
  
Oh. OH. OH!  
  
Out-fucking-standing! This was just what he wanted! He roared with laughter as he charged her, trading explosions with debris, the concussive blasts starting to add up and then...  
  
... ... ... and then the bitch fainted.  
  
"Pffftah." She gave a good fight, but Katsuki was better this time.  
  
"Ochako Uraraka is unable to continue. Katsuki Bakugo wins."  
  
He could get used to hearing that, yes he could.  
**  
~~~**  
  
Endeavor was this odd mix of... both furious and curiously apprehensive. He wasn't used to dealing with man more powerful then him. Even All Might treated him like his best friend. And honestly, he wasn't sure what to think about that, but honestly... the Superian flat out threatening him like that.  
  
What right did he have to dictate to him what he did with his family? Everything he did was for the benefit of his family! For the benefit of his legacy! For the benefit of his son!  
  
He was fuming. Abusing the boy? He was training him to be a great hero, the greatest hero! A hero that could out do All Might! Perhaps he and his wife didn't have the best of relationships, she was too kind to understand what he was trying to do! Perhaps their arguments went a bit too far!  
  
But he was not the one that went and scarred Shoto! That was all her!  
  
He stopped in his tracks, his mental rant dying down when he saw him. ... it couldn't be. The Tick!? Here? It couldn't be, couldn't possibly be! He was seeing things, too worried about what the Superian had said to him... had threatened against him. Why else would the bastard be wearing a tie? But no, it seemed too real!  
  
He watched as the Tick seemed to disappear down another hallway, and rounded a corner and he saw Death Arms, Mt. Lady, and Kamui Woods arguing about something.  
  
"I still think it's a disgrace! There's gotta be a way to go about and stop it!" The woman was practically shouting, munching from a box of takoyaki. "C'mon, Kamui, you were featured in that comic as well!"  
  
"I don't want to think about it. My power doesn't work that way. I don't think human biology works that way. Besides, we would have to go and find it on our own. The police aren't going to go after some publisher of porno doujins. Even if it's weird tentacle porn featuring the two of us." The wood based pro hero stated to his comrade in arms.  
  
"Why are the two of you worried about this? Have you seen the internet!?" Death Arms didn't seem to agree with his comrades arguing over whatever the hell they were doing. Endeavor grimaced as he walked up to the trio.  
  
"... you didn't even stop him?!" He interrupted the three arguing over semantics and pornography.  
  
"Errr... Endeavor... stop whom?" Kamui Woods was the one to answer him first.  
  
"The Tick! He would have just walked past you!"  
  
"Oh, you mean Nick Placeholder? He's just a reporter." At that reply, Endeavor felt his eye twitch. Could people be this stupid? Could people be this absolutely IGNORANT!?  
  
"Any idiot could see that it was-!"  
  
"The same maniac that beat the hell out of the Number 2 hero of all Japan?" It gave him pause, the reply from the blonde woman. "I mean, if you wanna go at hm again, feel free, but I plan on not being in the hospital tonight."  
  
Endeavor took a deep breath, counted to ten, and walked away. He didn't need to do this. He didn't need to deal with this. He almost felt bad for the first villain that crossed his path tonight, because he wasn't sure there would be anything left to bury, way he was feeling.  
  
**~~~**  
  
He couldn't believe it, watching that fight between Ochako and Katsuki. He knew that Ochako was training over time, but the amount of debris she was ablet to move seemed to be increasing. He remembered when they first started, and she could only lift around 3 tons before she got sick and perhaps she never met her weight limit, the fact that she was slinging it around, letting the rubble orbit around her like a shield... it was quite brilliant, but Katsuki was an unstoppable force. You had to be more then just clever.  
  
"That was certainly something, wasn't it?" He barely noticed the other approach him, Fumikage Tokoyami. His next opponent.  
  
"Tokoyami. Congratulations on defeating Shinsou. How did you know about his quirk?" He asked the... corvid headed co-student.  
  
"I didn't. I'm just used to ignoring purposeless natter." Well, that would explain it.  
  
"Fumi means me, by the way..." And that was when Fumikage's shadow seemed to move and... it was like looking at a solid mass of darkness, with a bird head. "Hiya! I'm Dark Shadow and I'm Fumi's quirk!" It was waving at Izuku, who waved back for lack of a better thing to do. Fumikage for his part, just closed his eyes and counted to ten.  
  
"I didn't call you out." He stated very very very calmly. The... quirk? shrugged and didn't go away.  
  
"Sooooooooo...? I got a mind of my own! I can do what I want! I do what I want!" Was Dark Shadow's reply to... Izuku wasn't even sure what to call this? This weird bit of bad comedy? Was that what he could call it? This modern day vaudeville act?  
  
"Yes, you're also evil." Fumikage turned to Izuku. "See what i have to deal with? See what burdens I carry? This dark demon that infests my soul, bringing ruination to all I hold dear as it constantly whispers seductive acts of evil into my very mind, turning me away from my chosen path of heroism..." He went on for a quite a while about that.  
  
Izuku looked over to Dark Shadow. "Does... does he do that often?"  
  
"All the time. You tell a guy he should pirate comics and drink milk out of the carton and all of the sudden your the worst evil that ever happened." That... was something to think about.  
  
"... but it's only my own sense of inherent goodness that keeps this demon at bay..." Oh, he was still going. Maybe if this hero thing didn't work out, Fumikage had the makings of a novelist. Though on the other hand, Izuku wasn't sure if long winded characters soliloquizing about their own inner darkness and brooding insecurities would be an enjoyable read.  
  
Izuku turned back to the match that was currently happening, just as it finished. Looks like whoever won between him and Fumikage would be facing Tenya Iida.  
  
"... I take heart in the knowledge that by attending UA, perhaps I could learn to turn this twisted, evil darkness within me towards something brighter!" Oh, he finally finished! Just as they were called down to the ring.  
  
"Just a word of warning, Tokoyami... I won't go easy on your or Dark Shadow!" His bird headed classmate nodded.  
  
"I wouldn't ask you too, Midoriya!" And their fight began in earnest! Dark Shadow came charging from Fumikage, as Izuku charged, fist cocked back! He knew that he had to stop being such a brawler, stop treating himself like he was the Tick or All Might, but this served a purpose this time. Everyone knew that he fout too much like All Might. Everyone saw as Momo picked him apart.  
  
Dark Shadow came flying towards him, and he quickly redirected One for All from his arm into his legs on the fly and leapt over the sentient quirk! Up and over and towards Fumikage! He careened over towards the bird heade student, landing a solid shoulder tackle as the two fell to the floor of the ring.  
  
Izuku kicked back up to his feet, but not faster then Dark Shadow managed to right itself and charge towards him as Fumikage stood back up! He had to think fast, once again building layer upon layer upon layer of One for All on the surface of his skin of her arms, blocking and parrying the claws of the dark creature with his forearms.  
  
He had to finish this quick! This wasn't like fighting one person, it was like fighting two people.  
  
... perhaps that was the path to victory, then! If he couldn't defeat the two of them, he'd have one defeat the other! He would have to lead Dark Shadow on a merry chase!  
  
Which he did!  
  
Making sure to mask his intentions from Fumikage. That was easier said then done, but he would have to keep faster then Dark Shadow just enough that Fumikage kept increasing its speed so that when he used his plan, it wouldn't be possible for him to stop it!  
  
And that's just what he happened, charging after Fumikage again, leaping up and over him, twisting in the air, and slamming both feet into his opponents back sending him careening into his quirk!  
  
A house divided against itself could not and would not stand, and Fumikage was out. Izuku approached him, even after Midnight called the match in his favor.  
  
"You hurt, Tokoyami?" He offered his hand to the other and helped him to his feet.  
  
"Only my pride..." Fumikage was groaning in pain. That did hurt! But it wasn't as embarrassing as it could be. "Congratulations. You better beat Iida."  
  
"I don't plan on losing, Tokoyami."  
  
**~~~**  
  
The fight with Tenya had taken it's toll on Izuku, the speedster was the hardest opponent so far in the tournament yet! He had a fifteen minute break. Fifteen minutes to face his destiny and face Katsuki.  
  
"Hey, Midoriya. We need to talk real quick." It was Minoru Mineta, again. The little guy wasn't worse for wear after their match, not like Izuku. Honestly, Minoru was the easiest fight he had!  
  
"Mineta..." He was trying to psyche himself up, trying to get in the zone. If he was going to face Katsuki, he was going to have to be at his very best.  
  
"I was thinking about your power, and watching you fight and watching the highlights of the relay race, I was thinking... how much did you use to take out the Zero Pointer during the exam and how much do you normally use?" The purple haired student asked Izuku.  
  
"Normally I use up to 10% at a time. Against that Zero Pointer? It was more of an All or Nothing shot. It's why it broke my arm."  
  
"It didn't break your arm. According to Uraraka, it was obliterated. Anyway, not the point. I was thinking about it and I think you're trying to bottle lightning with the way you use it. Or... you ever did that trick where you put a mint into a bottle of diet soda and it explodes outward?" Izuku nodde, he had seen something similar on the internet. "Your arm is the soda bottle, your power is the mint."  
  
That gave Izuku some pause. Bottling lightning? Diet soda and mints?  
  
"Or like cooking an egg in the microwave. You don't heat it evenly and it explodes..." He was talking to himself, muttering at the complexities of his power. Was it so simple? Would it be that easy? Using it to brace himself to absorb as much as the blow back? If that was possible, then...  
  
It would just be like Cocooning himself, instead of building layers of protection, he would just be forcing it through out his whole body! He wouldn't be limited to only up to 10%! He might just have what was needed to beat Katsuki!  
  
"You alright, Midoriya? You're mumbling... I think you've had an epiphany..." Minoru was right, he did have an epiphany!  
  
"... I think... thank you, Mineta... I think I might just be able to beat Katsuki!"  
  
"Maybe. You only have ten minutes to figure out if it'll work before you'll face Bakugo."  
  
Oh, he had to pull off a miracle in ten minutes? Pfft. Easy, he was a super hero!  
  
Ten minutes later, at the ring... he wasn't so sure. There was no way to test the hypothesis, just theory and thoughts and that only got you so far. This was a real rubber meets the road moment, as they were both introduced by Present Mic.  
  
The finals. This was it. This was everything he dreamed and dreaded. It was hard to look at Katsuki now and remember how he was, ages ago. He was his friend... they were as close as brothers. And now... now they had so much separated between them.  
  
"You have anything you want to say, Katsuki, before we get started?" Izuku thought he was being magnanimous, offering a chance for Katsuki to air out any grievances. This was their chance to beat seven shades out of each other! 15 minutes really wasn't nearly enough, either. The fight with Tenya was exhaustive and the fight Katsuki had with Eijiro wasn't much better.  
  
The fact that either of them had any gas in the tank still was nothing short of a miracle.  
  
"Yeah. One thing..." He practically blasted himself forward, shouting. "DIIIIIIIIE!" Izuku should have realized that was going to happen, but he was willing to give Katsuki the benefit of the doubt.  
  
They were the very interpetation of when an Immovable Object met an Unstoppable Force. The explosions didn't hurt now nearly as much as they did in middle school, but he had the power of One for All now, he had the power to be the greatest hero in the world.  
  
And he fought back!  
  
It was time to put theory, into practice! He felt the power enter his body, filling up his limbs and his torso... he felt the layer after layer after layer of protection envelop him like a blanket. He could do this. This could work! He just had to try!  
  
He started small, using kidgloves, to get a feel for the new usage and adjust it on the fly. One for All felt limitless and infinite at times, but he had to start small.  
  
They traded blows, explosions rippling up and down his arms as he blocked Bakugo's punches. He was thankful for Aizawa helping him out. Same with Ojiro. If this was what 12 days of training could do, perhaps it would be worth while to keep it up.  
  
"Why don't you learn your damn place, Midoriya! This is my story! MINE! I'm not going to lose to some damn side character!" A particularly strong, literally explosive punch landed in Izuku's gut, causing him to suck in a breath in sudden shock.  
  
"Side character? Katsuki! The world isn't some bad action movie! It's not going to behave the way you want it just because you want it too!" He followed up with a punch of his own, landing just as hard! He had to be careful, he had to pull his punches, even as he got used to having One for All flowing through his body.  
  
As the fight ticked by faster, the more he was using did as well. He was already, by his reckoning at 5%. Katsuki was tough and he was strong. The explosion quirk of paid off dividends to his body, making him capable of tanking blows that would have taken down a lesser opponent.  
  
That was alright. This was a fight that was a long time coming.  
  
"THEN I'LL JUST HAVE TO FORCE IT TOO!" Another charge, another huge howitzer of a blow prepared. The same one that knocked Shoto Todoroki out of the match. The only thing he could do, the only thing possible was for Izuku to catch it with his cupped hands and let his power absorb the blow!  
  
It was as powerful as any hit he had already taken, as powerful as anything that Katsuki was capable of doing.  
  
But he tanked it! And he took advantage of the shock that Katsuki was wearing on his face, grabbing Katsuki by his uniform and throwing him over his shoulder! He still had One for All throughout his body and he never felt stronger!  
  
Katsuki went flying, but recovered quickly enough, using his explosive quirk to right himself and sent him flying back.  
  
"Damn it, Midoriya! Know your place, you shitty nerd!" He was charging again, prepping both hands. Who knew what he had waiting for him.  
  
Izuku didn't want to wait. He could feel the power in his body... 15%. Amazing, the strain wasn't there and he just punched the air in front of him.  
  
It practically exploded in front of him, catching Katsuki in it's radius! Izuku watched as the blonde went up... and then came down, landing heavily.  
  
There was a pause as Midnight counted down. And then... declared Izuku the winner. He walked over to Katsuki, who was just stirring.  
  
"It's over Katsuki. You lost." He said to his bully, his tormentor all through out middle school.  
  
"WHAT! It can't be over! NO! I refuse!" He tried sitting up and he found his one arm dislocated. Izuku offered him a hand.  
  
"Katsuki... the world doesn't revolve around you, and you can't force it, either. I know how you feel about people looking down on you or showing you pity. You may be a bastard, but you were my friend, my brother! So I don't regret saving you. And I guess I'll have to save you once more, even from yourself. So swallow your damn pride and let me help you up!"  
  
There was a tense moment, as those red eyes bored into him, before Katsuki took his hand.  
  
"This doesn't change a thing, Midoriya! We're not friends! We're rivals! Just know that in the end, I'll be the winner! This was nothing more then a setback!" Once on his feet he walked off, brushing off Midnight. He needed his shoulder relocated. Thankfully, they were going to give them a moment to catch their breath. A chance to breath before the awards ceremony, as Izuku walked off the field as well.  
  
"Gotta say kid, that was pretty impressive." Izuku turned to the speaker... a foreign man in a suit.  
  
"Maybe. I don't know if I'm getting through to him. I think it's going to take a few more of these encounters before he gets it." Izuku replied.  
  
"Yeah, but you're trying. That's more then most people would even attempt." The man offered his hand to shake. "Clark Oppenheimer. You're gonna far kid!"  
  
_You'd be surprised where you could find encouragement. The stranger's words had weight behind him. And slowly and very surely, Katsuki seemed to be coming around. Rivals was something I could deal with. It was a baby step. Always baby steps with him._  
  
The festival was quite the spectacle and the Superian couldn't always make it, but he always enjoyed it when he did. Still, the things he had learned today... he shook his head as he pulled out a cellphone and placed a call.  
  
"... hello?" The voice on the other end yawned.  
  
"Oh, I didn't disturb you did I? Here I thought you were always burning the midnight oil." The Superian gave a smile, as he heard the commotion in the background.  
  
"Ah! Di-director! I didn't... I... that is... how's your vacation? I heard Japan is great ths time of year!" The voice was startled into cronyism rather quickly.  
  
"Doesn't matter. I was hoping you could do me a favor. I need a new file opened, for a person of interest."  
  
"Yeah, sure thing, Director!"  
  
"Put it under Section One. The name we're after is Izuku Midoriya, and link it to Toshinori Yagi." He waited out the silence on the other side.  
  
"Section one, sir? But there's only nine entries in that, and I'm pretty sure most of them are dead..." He tried to keep himself from rolling his eyes, but it was only with great difficulty.  
  
"I'm well aware about that, just open the file. This is going to be a big one."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, this is a big one. I call this the make or break chapter. Hopefully the former and not much of the latter.


	28. Issue 25

The Tick vs MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue #25  
  
Silence had filled the bar, as they watched the final leg of the tournament. It was quite the ending, as Tomura saw the Green Haired Child... that he now had a name to go with that bastard. Still, such strength! Such power!  
  
He was knocked from his revelry by a knock at the door. ... ... ... they were in a bar, why would someone just knock on the door?  
  
"Delivery for Mister Chippendale?" Was called out from behind the door, Tomura looked over to Chairface.  
  
"Excellent! She actually pulled through! I can't believe it!" He practically clambered over to the door and signed for the crate that was rolled in.  
  
... ... ... Tomura wasn't sure what to say, he wasn't sure why the crate was shipped to their hide out, it wasn't much of a secret lair if they had package delivery. "What is that?" He finally asked, as the deformed American gangster got a crowbar out.  
  
"Do you follow 20th century history? The Cold War between the Americans and the Soviets? Well, both sides developed super weapons of incredible power! The Soviets had the Red Scare robot, designed to assassinate the US President... the Americans developed a most perfect weapon. A weapon that instead of defeating All Might, would make All Might... defeat himself!" He finally opened the crate, and pulled away the cover! "BEHOLD! The WMCC X-1!" Tomura looked at the American superweapon, then to Chairface, then back to the superweapon.  
  
"How is a chair supposed to cause All Might to defeat himself?"  
  
_This was it. The closing ceremonies for the Sports Festival for the Freshman Leg of the festivities. I... I had won. First place. It was... exhilarating. I... I beat Katsuki and... I didn't know what to say. I hope they didn't ask me to do another speech._  
  
Izuku could hold his head high. Winning the Sports Festival was... well, it was something he's wanted since the first time he watched it on television. The awards ceremony was a simple enough affair, he got a gold medal! He never got an award like this before! Tenya managed to swing bronze, which wasn't too bad, and Katsuki...  
  
"... ... ... RARGH! How can you be so calm about this, four eyes! SECOND PLACE IS FIRST LOSER!"  
  
Okay, so Katsuki was being Katsuki.  
  
"You know, Katsuki, maybe if you just took a deep breath and didn't, you know, act like everything was a personal insult against you, you'd enjoy life some more."  
  
"Who the hell asked you, Midoriya! You won first place!"  
  
"Being number one isn't everything, Katsuki." The blonde looked at him with enough force that Izuku was sure that if anything was unfortunately enough to pass between them they'd be crushed by the weight of that glare alone.  
  
"Being first is EVERYTHING! Ugh, even when you win, you still lose!" Katsuki walked off, tossing his silver medal aide.  
  
"Bakugo is going to have to learn how to deal with a lot of things before he manages to be a hero." Tenya said, looking at the bronze award he got.  
  
"Katsuki's always been explosive. Literally and metaphorically. You gotta learn to roll with the punches. I mean, not literally or anything." Izuku offered, shrugging. "He used to be my greatest friend, then... I went away and when I came back..." He sighed.  
  
"Eight years of having his ego fed till it bloated didn't do his personality any favors. He's smart, he's strong, and he can be a great hero if he just took a step back and looked at himself."

 

 

**~~~**

  
Katsuki Bakugo was... he wasn't as upset as he thought he'd be, despite second place. Midoriya was still too infuriating! Telling him to swallow his pride! Saying he'd always save him if he needed it!  
  
He let out a roar and punched the blue wall in front of him!  
  
... wait, wall in front of him?  
  
He looked up and... he had just punched a person! And they completely ignored it! Looking at who he had hit, who had completely ignored him, he had saw the vigilante that had been running around his home town. The Tick, wearing of all things, a necktie! There's no way that he believed that was a proper disguise for a super hero!  
  
"Hey, sport! Heck of a fight you just had!" The Tick said to him. Great, he probably wanted to talk and from what he saw on the news and on the forums... he'd probably have as much luck getting past All Might as he would the Tick.  
  
So he just leaned up against the side of the exit tunnel and crossed his arms. "Wasn't that great. I got second place. I was supposed to win! ME!" He tried to state cooly, but that bit came out too much like bitching for his taste. Fucking Midoriya, making him behave like this, like a damned bitch!  
  
"You know, you got an attitude problem, sport. And I think I know just what it is." The large vigilante took a seat on a bench next to wear Katsuki was standing. It bowed under his weight.  
  
"Attitude problem? What attitude problem! I'm the greatest! I just gotta show these side characters where there place in the hierarchy is! Like I did with Icyhot!"  
  
"Yeah, I get it. You were probably smart growin' up. Strong, too. So your peers, parents, and professions fed you the puppy treats of praise, letting your ego grow fat till all it can do is waddle along the sidewalk of life, in search for it's next snack.  
  
"... what?" Nothing about that sentence made any damned sense. He knew the Tick surely wasn't all up there, in his head space, but nothing about that made any sense.  
  
"Or you're more like a fish! A Big Fish, true, but you lived all your life in a small pond, and then when you discovered the river, you swam upstream... only gaining in size and entered the very ocean! Only to find that the seas were filled with other very Big Fish!"  
  
That sentence made just as much sense as the last one! That is to say, none at all! "The ffffffuck are you talking about?" He was confused and it showed on his face and he wasn't thinking about his loss any more, but seriously, what the fuck was the Tick talking about.  
  
"I believe, Young Bakugo, what Mister Placeholder is saying, is that until you joined UA, you were exceptional. But now that you're here, exceptional is the bare minimum." Katsuki whirled around and saw him! The Symbol of Peace himself! The Number 1 Hero of All Japan!  
  
"You got all that from him? And who the hell is this Placeholder person?" This was just too confusing. All Might started to laugh... then the Tick did the same.  
  
"Nick Placeholder! Dagobah Muckraker! Got anything you want to say on the record, Premature Explosion Lad?" The too wide grin on the Tick's face annoyed Katsuki. The too wide grin on All Might's face was just as bad. They weren't laughing at him, but... fact was, the two understood each other and that was scary.  
  
On the other hand...  
  
"So wait, what you're saying is that all those side characters... were in fact the main character of their own story." He paused, before laughing uproariously. "Yes! YES! It all makes sense! I'm so fucking amazing that even the extras are badass! So of course I didn't win! A hero that never loses is boring! YET ANOTHER OBSTACLE FOR ME TO OVERCOME!" He laughed again, before racing out of the tunnel.  
  
"I don't think the lad took the lesson we were trying to teach." The Tick looked to All Might. The other hero just shrugged.  
  
"Admittedly I'm not a very good teacher, but I'm sure this will all work out in the end." All Might looked at the blonde running out of the tunnel and out of the stadium. "Probably."

  
  
**~~~**

  
With everything said and done, Izuku and his friends were exiting the stadium. A shower a change of clothes, and... really they should have stayed to watch the rest of the festival, but honestly? It was time to celebrate. Izuku managed to get first place. Tenya managed to get third!  
  
"Hey, Midoriya... I'm... gonna have to take a rain check. Pony wanted to celebrate the fact I got to round two of the final leg." Ochako said, as they were walking out. That was fine, that was alright.  
  
"Much as I want to hang out, Monoma is going to need his ego satisfied for barely making it into round 2." Itsuka said with a sigh.  
  
"I don't see why you hang with him, Kendo. You deserve a lot better then that dude." Good ol' Minoru, always looking to see if he had a chance. The ginger haired girl shrugged.  
  
"Maybe, but Monoma isn't as bad as you think he is. And class 1-B has to stick together, especially with the top five positions going to 1-A." That made sense. She probably made friends in her class as well. Alright, still he had the rest.  
  
"Actually, I'm gonna head on home early. Maybe catch a nap." Hitoshi said, yawning. "Still, I'm... satisfied. I might not have made it to the end, but... I got further then I thought possible. And I didn't have to use my power to do it." He thought about it for a moment, then a moment longer. "Though, I would have preferred to have made it pass the obstacle course on my own." He finished, looking at Izuku. "Not that I'm complaining! I think I would have preferred if you just picked me up onto my feet."  
  
"Much as I hate to agree with Shinsou, I think I feel the same. Next time, Midoriya, you just need to pick us up, you don't need to carry us the whole way through." Minoru agreed with the Gen Ed student  
  
Izuku thought about what they said. It made sense. One of the biggest complaints his teachers had for him was that he always tried to save people. He never let them stand on their own two feet. He still remembered the words from Aizawa just the other week.  
  
'Midoriya, you're going to break your back from carrying your classmates like that, and then where is the world?'  
  
"You guys are right. I should've just picked you up like that, but..." He tried to find the words to apologize to the two.  
  
"Don't worry about it, Midoriya! Just don't make it a habit and we'll be cool. Anyway! Me and Kaminari are going to try and see if we can't collect some digits from these Management cuties we saw in the stands." Minoru hooked his thumb over at Denki, who shrugged in agreement.  
  
"... guys, what'd I tell you about acting creepy?" The first day he told them to not creep on chicks.  
  
"But we're not creepin' on chicks, dude!" Denki adjusted his jacket's collar. "This time, we're a bunch of super cool freshman that made it to the final round of the fighting tournament!" Minoru nodded enthusiastically.  
  
"Oh yeah! We're great big heroes now!" The purpled headed boy flexed cartoonishly. "Oh yeaaaah!" He clapped Denki on the shoulder, as the two headed off to the stands.  
  
"Well, gosh! I think that just makes it the three of us!" Mei pulled Izuku and Tenya into a hug.  
  
"How exciting." Tenya deadpanned.  
  
"Are you still unhappy about that?" Mei asked, looking at Tenya incredulously.  
  
"Unhappy? I'm still livid! You used me, Hatsume! You used me as a living billboard!" He all but shouted at her, before calming down. "I apologize. That was unfair. As was how you treated that fight. You had every possibility to win. That was your match to lose, not mine to win and I'm not sure I like it." He was about to keep going on Mei, but then his phone went off. He pulled it out and excused himself. "It's my mother. I have to take this. Hatsume, Midoriya... enjoy the rest of your day."  
  
They watched him walk off, talking with his mother.  
  
"And then the were two..." Midoriya looked over at Mei. "Unless you wanna check out as well, Mei?" The pinkette thought about his words, tapping her finger with a cheek.  
  
"Let's see... I got a hand full of choices... Choice 1 is I spend the rest of my day fielding calls from various support companies that saw my little advertisement with Iida... on the other hand, choice 2 has my champion of a boyfriend buying me dinner and we might make out while I feel up his muscly body." She giggled as Izuku's face turned bright red.  
  
"You're like a salad, Izuku! Bright red and dark green. And let me tell ya something, Izuku!" She leaned in close. "I love me some salad." And she planted a kiss on his cheek, feeling his burning hot skin.  
  
"M-M-Mei! I wish you wouldn't tease me so much!" Izuku replied. She was almost too much from him to deal with, but she was probably the best thing in his life right now.  
  
"You know you love it. C'mon, let's get dinner! We'll catch the high lights of your match with Bakugo later!" And with that, they headed out from the stadium proper.  
  
_Champion. It was odd to think about it. I liked to think that I was the champion of justice, having been a vigilante for some time and being a trainee hero, but... I won something I never thought I would have been able to do so. The UA Sports Festival. Even better, Katsuki was improving every single day, becoming less and less like a jerk. I think I was getting to him. I think he was coming around... and maybe... maybe when our time at UA was over, maybe I'd have my friend back._

 

 

**~~~**

  
"He was attacked? Do we know who did it?" The phone call that Tenya Iida received form his mother... originally he thought it was just his mother congratulating him on his third place, but no... she was crying and asking for him to come to the hospital as quickly as he could.  
  
And here he was, in the hospital, talking with his parents. His older brother, Tensei, the Pro-Hero Ingenium, had been attacked. The police were there as well, talking to him about what had happened.  
  
"We believe it was the Hero Killer, but according to the cameras on Ingenium's armor, the Hero Killer is no longer working alone." The police officer told him, filling the young trainee hero with dread. The Hero Killer now had allies? A disciple? Who knew who would work with such a mad man.  
  
"Can I talk to him?" He asked. "Can he speak? Is he going to be alright!?" The rumor was that the Hero Killer had changed tactics with most of his targets. Now his victims were coming back with large, ugly cuts on their faces, fingers taken from their hands, and in one instance, a nose completely missing.  
  
They all said the same thing, that the hero killer wanted to teach society as a whole a sharp lesson, but whereas the Old Stain would have just left a pile of corpses in his wake, the New Stain discovered that if he killed everyone he came across, there would be no one left to teach.  
  
That did not change the fact that at least one of Stain's victims had turned up dead. He remembered hearing about it from his brother, that when they finally got the widow to identify the body, the coldness in which she only said good still made Tenya shiver. An investigation into the deceased was still pending, but the amount of misdeeds the hero had committed was startling and appalling.  
  
"I'm sorry, but that's not possible at the moment. You have to understand, Ingenium lost a lot of blood, we needed to get his heart rate steady and the only way we could do that was put him into a medically induced coma." A coma? They forced his brother into hibernation!? "And even then, whatever it is about Stain's quirk that paralyzes someone... it's reacting badly with the drugs we used to induce his coma and we're not sure we can pull him back out." ... he felt distant, as he heard his mother wail, heaving sobs. The strongest woman he knew... and she was breaking down like a child.  
  
He wasn't going to stand for this. He was going to catch the Hero Killer, if it was the last thing he did.


	29. Issue 26

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue 26  
  
Admittedly, Spinner thought to himself, being the number one disciple for the Hero Killer did have some of it's disadvantages. For one, he traded a rather regular home life for traveling across the country from Stain's favorite hunting ground to favorite hunting ground.  
  
That wasn't too bad. It wasn't like he had much of a home life to begin with, no one to care about him if he pulled up roots and started to wander. But he was more then just a look out. The Hero Killer was teaching him. His fighting style, as Stain's quirk didn't do much to make him stronger or faster in combat, so he had to make do with skill. His philosophy, newly super charged by the influx of selfless heroism.  
  
Spinner saw the same video. 'I am Mighty.' It's what convinced him to seek out the Hero Killer. That perhaps he could be mighty, too. But instead of something to fight, he found something to fight for. No longer was Stain killing indiscriminately, but rather leaving it for the worst of the worst. The true fakes in it for truly selfish reasons, or who's behavior wasn't very heroic at all.  
  
Like that one they found last week. Sure, a faker was a faker, but sometimes a faker could learn, could become real. But they scouted him. Followed him home. See how he treated his loved ones, so they could decide his lesson.  
  
After what they saw him do, though...  
  
'There's nothing more disgusting in this world, Spinner, then a rapist...'  
  
The next night, the world had one less.  
  
'If you ever find yourself at the mercy of anyone, Spinner, hope for an evil man.' He had told him afterwards, a sharp flick of his wrist cleaning the blood from his blade. 'Evil men like the power they hold over people. They want to see you suffer. They want to see you squirm. They want you to _know_ that they hold your life in your hands. But a good, decent man? They'll kill you with hardly a word.'  
  
He still remembered that moment, burned into his head, into his brain as he commented on his teacher's message. 'But, you taunt everyone... you make sure they know why you're doing all of this.' That dark chuckle from Stain would stay with him for the rest of his years.  
  
'Don't you know, Spinner? I am not a decent man.'  
  
The door exploding in a burst of blue flame knocked spinner from his revelry and woke Stain up from his nap. They both drew their weapons as the intruder walked in lazily, giving out a low whistle.  
  
He honestly looked like roadkill, like someone decided to fix a burn victim with raw hide and leather instead of skin grafts and healing quirks. Stain for his part, pointed his katana at the intruder, cooly. A way that Spinner tried to emulate, but found his own weapon of choice was far too heavy for him to use one handed.  
  
"Who the hell are you?" Stain asked, as the intruder smirked.  
  
"Dabi. I thought for sure I was your number one fan..." He looked over Spinner. "But I suppose I'm not _that_ devoted." Stain let out a long, suffering sigh, before sheathing his katana.  
  
"Another fanboy, just what I needed, like I need another hole in my head." He went back to leaning up against a wall, slumping to the floor. Spinner, for his part was completely shocked! Flabbergasted! He was supposed to be Stain's disciple! Not some punk that just walked off the street.  
  
"Y-you can't be serious! You're just going to let him literally walk off the street like that!? He could be a sidekick for all you know!"  
  
"Dabi, are you a sidekick to some hero trying to bring me in?" Stain asked, arms crossed. He was trying to sleep and the fanboy was going to keep him up over this.  
  
"No, sir. Just a like minded individual. I was hoping that we could... work together. I heard what you've been doing lately. Those... sharp lessons of yours. I don't hate hero society, it needs to change, but for the better. I will help you change it!" Dabi got down on his knees. "If you take me, I only ask one thing, though!"  
  
Stain rolled his eyes, Spinner sighed and threw his hands up in the air. This was happening, wasn't it? This was something that he was going to have to deal with! He saw enough martial art movies to know where this will go! The new guy was going to far out strip him and then he would be removed from the school.  
  
"What's that?" Stain just wanted this over with so he could go back to sleep.  
  
"I want you to help me kill Endeavor." That... Stain's curiosity was piqued, he opened one eye, looking over the burned man.  
  
"I have to say, Dabi. At first you had my curiosity. But now? Oh, you have my attention!"  
  
_After the Sports Festival, Mei decided that first, we'd get some milkshakes and watch the rest of the festival at a local cafe. It wasn't... so bad. I got to see what the Upperclassmen were like, and the Seniors at the school for strong as all hell! The first match in the Upperclass tournament made my match against Katsuki look like my match against Mineta..._  
  
"Geeze... is that really the difference a year makes at UA?" Izuku commented, as he watched the Festival on the television in the cafe. That was... he wanted to say unexpected, but really...  
  
"Hey, it's UA. If you can survive a year, you'll be turned into an absolute machine!" Mei said, looking over to Izuku. "Well, not literally I hope. I'd really miss those muscles of yours if you decided to go full conversion cyborg. Then again..." She started tapping her chin, deep in thought.  
  
"Mei, I think you're starting to confuse your fantasy for our fantasies." Izuku countered.  
  
"I suppose turning you into a cyborg would get rid of those muscles of yours that Ilike so much." She sighed. "Oh well, I'm over it now."  
  
"What am I going to do with you, Mei?" Izuku asked, with a sigh, shaking his head.  
  
"Love and adore me because you're crazy in love?" Mei had this cute look of innocence on her face, that Izuku had to quickly change the subject.  
  
"Iida's still really mad at you, you know." There we go. They could talk about Mei's match against Iida. Well, 'match'. It was really more like Mei was taking complete advantage over both Iida's good nature and the fact that the Festival was televised.  
  
"He'll get over it. You think he's the type to hold a grudge? He's almost as much of a teddy bear as you are, Izuku!" He looked at her.  
  
"T-teddy bear!?" He practically squeaked out. Mei nodded enthusiastically.  
  
"Oh, yeah. Look at you. You're all cuddly and I bet it's really warm to be held in your arms." She paused. "Oh, wait. I actually know for a fact that it is." Izuku blushed, and placed his head on the table.  
  
"Don't be like that, Izuku. You know you love me."  
  
"I love katsudon, too, but it doesn't tease me nearly as much as you do." Izuku told the pinkette, head still firmly placed on the table. It was a chore, sometimes, but the heart wants what the heart wants and honestly, Mei's teasing was... different then the teasing he got in middle school.  
  
Soon enough, however, they were finished their milkshakes and it was time to head to Izuku's home for dinner. He was... he finally did something his mother could really be proud of. He was coming home the conquering hero.  
  
Quite literally, actually. He had barely stepped through the door when his mother hugged onto him!  
  
"Oh, Izuku, baby! I can't believe you did it!" He managed to blush, but he was smiling just the same! It... felt good, really.  
  
"Thanks, mom!" He didn't know what else to say. "I had people believing in me there, and I had you cheering me on, how could I lose?" He hugged his mom back. It's just what they both needed. They held each other tight for a few moments, before the hug broke.  
  
"So... how does my champion feel about Katsudon?" Izuku nodde vigorously. That was exactly what a champion deserved, a meal fit for a winner!  
  
"I would like that very much!"  
  
"Alright, Izuku. I'm going to get started on it. Oh! And Uncle Nick said he'd be running late tonight." Uncle Nick... who... oh! Of course! They had to be coy about the Tick living with them. Which meant that his mother didn't know about Mei already knowing that Izuku was Aphid.  
  
"Thanks, Mrs. Midoriya!" Mei added, grabbing Izuku by the wrist, pulling him towards the room. But his mother caught on quick.  
  
"Now, now, Izuku! If you're going to have your girlfriend in your room, I want that door open!" She called to them, before they crossed the threshold. Mei sighed, pushing Izuku onto the bed.  
  
"Ugh, your mom is such a kill joy." She looked around. "Oh... wow, I think that's a bigger mood killer then your mother." The genius inventor stated, commenting on Izuku's particular choice of decorations.  
  
"I suppose it'd be awkward to make out while the Number 1 Hero is gazing from every direction, huh? You wanna... just cuddle, instead?" He asked, smiling sheepishly. He was almost sixteen, maybe it was time to take down his posters and various memorabilia.  
  
"I suppose it'll have to do." She sighed, before joining him on the edge of the bed. Sure, it wasn't the declaration she made earlier, but she got to have her muscly teddy bear hold her.  
  
_Honestly, I think I was starting to get used to this whole boyfriend thing. Sure, Mei still left me a stuttering wreck when she just surprised me, but... I was head over heels for her, and I never felt like this for anyone before and it was just... I hate to say it, I was giddy and energetic like a school boy, ironically. Unfortunately, my mother really did put her foot down on our original plans, probably not wanting the pink haired temptress to corrupt her baby boy.. Oh well. It's not like we had the whole school year for that!_  
  
Izuku Midoriya had just finished escorting Mei Hatsume, the wonder beautiful girl that he was... going steady with! It was like one of those overly bubblegum pop songs that talked about true love and the like, the way he felt for the pinkette! She was enough to leave him dizzy and blushing and just absolutely mad like a march hare.  
  
All it took for him to be putty in her hands was a touch on the arm, a kiss right below the eye, a bright smile. What's worse, she knew it, too! Be still his beating heart, the way she knew how to press all of his buttons and in which order, too!  
  
Oh well, it was just his burden to bear and it wasn't much of a burden at all. If this was how the weight of the world felt, then he was practically Atlas already!  
  
Speaking of bubblegum and pink, however!  
  
"IZUKU MIDORIYA! YOU HAVE TO HELP ME!" And Mina Ashido barrelled right into him! They rolled around on the ground, until they ended up coming to a stop, with Mina on top of Izuku, blushing deeply, her hands resting right on his chest..  
  
"... Ashido! What's going on!?" Izuku asked, finally managing to sit up. The pink, acid empowered school girl was already getting onto her feet.  
  
"There's no time! You're my only hope!" Her eyes went wide, as she looked at the roof tops. "Oh no! It's too late!"  
  
And that was when three men dressed in... white bunny outfits dropped from the roofs.  
  
"Hey." Said the first one.  
  
"Hey!" Said the second.  
  
"Heeeeeeeey..." Said the third.  
  
"... what?"  
  
**< \---TO BE CONTINUED!**


	30. Issue 27

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue 27  
  
Mina Ashido should have thought better of her plans. She wanted to stay behind and watch the Upperclassmen part of the Festival. Maybe get a selfie and autograph of the other champions. It would have been fine. Sure, Eijiro Kirishima, the bestest best friend a girl could have had to leave early, but what was the worst that could happen...?  
  
Oh, that naivete that she showed only a few hours ago! She noticed them out of the corner of her eye. But it couldn't be, not here, not now! And then she heard it.  
  
"HEY!" There were three of them. Deranged, nihilistic Heys. Her father warned her about this, that it was possible, but highly unlikely they would be found. She made a bee line straight for the train! If she could make it there, she could make it to Eijiro's house and he would protect her!  
  
... of course, she'd have to explain the truth, and she wasn't looking forward to that, but it was just what she would have too do! She ran... she ran as fast as she could, an eye on the rooftops, as she watched the three of them chase her from the roofs, racing towards the train station.  
  
And she saw him... her would be savior! The champion of the freshman! Sure, she hadn't talked with Izuku Midoriya that much, but knowing what he was capable of... knowing his behaviors! He wouldn't turn her down! Not when she needed him the most!  
  
"IZUKU MIDORIYA! YOU HAVE TO HELP ME!" And she barreled right into him! She didn't mean to, she just couldn't stop! The two rolled around the ground, coming to a stop and she was ontop of him, her hands on his chest.  
  
... ... ... wow, he was sculpted! He was also blushing!  
  
"... Ashido! What's going on?" He asked her, as she finally got off o fhim and onto her feet as he sat up.  
  
"There's no time! You're my only hope!" She was looking at the rooftops. And she saw them. They were already here! "Oh no! It's too late!"  
  
And the three Heys landed before them, with all the grace that these deranged bastards were capable of!  
  
The first looked at her, smirking. "Hey."  
  
The second looked around, spotting Izuku. "Hey!"  
  
The third, stuck a finger in his ear. "Heeeeeeeey..."  
  
Izuku, for all he was just too precious, looked at everything. "... what?"  
  
_I have no idea what is going on. Three men in strange bunny suits just showed up and Ashido looked completely terrified. It was like she knew what they were saying, even thought they just said hey. Okay, I didn't need to deal with this._  
  
Izuku finally stood up, and looked at the bunny men, then to Mina, then back to the bunny men, then back to Mina.  
  
"Ashido, I don't know what you're playing at, but I don't really need to deal with this insanity right now." He dusted himself off. "I don't know what you three and Ashido have planned, but whatever it is, count me out."  
  
The one that looked like he was the leader grimaced. "Hey! Hey, hey he-y hey hey, heyheyhey!" Well, they were dedicated at least. And then it was time for Izuku's eyes to go wide as they all drew guns.  
  
"MIDORIYA! Duck!" And he did, as Mina sprayed the three with her low solulibility, high viscosity acid, gluing them down to the pavement and gunking up their guns, and they took off running.  
  
"What's going on, Ashido? What was that about?" He asked her, as they ran away from the train station. She gave a bit of a chuckle.  
  
"It's complicated?"  
  
"Complicated! Three bunny men just threatened to kill us! It's beyond complicated!"  
  
"They're just nihilists. They believe in nothing, Midoriya! NOTHING!" That was not an answer, and Izuku barely had a chance to reply that it wasn't an answer when Mina pulled him into a narrow alley. She put a finger to his lips, as they saw the bunny men run by.  
  
"Hey! Heyheyhey!" The one said, to the other two.  
  
"Hey! Hey hey, hey heyhey!" The second respond. The third merely nodded. Izuku saw Mina's eyes go wide and tears form in her eyes.  
  
"Nononononono! They're going to go after Eijiro... we have to go rescue him from the Heys!" She dragged him out of the alley.  
  
"Ashido! I need to know what the hell is going on!" Izuku wasn't one for swearing, but Ashido was hiding something and he didn't know what but this was starting to get too weird for him.  
  
"Alright, alright, alright." She sighed. "I... if you come with me, I'll tell you and Eijiro at the same time, okay? That way I don't have to explain twice." She looked at him, her large black eyes wet with tears.  
  
"Fine, fine. I'll go with you."  
  
And that was how Izuku Midoriya found himself on a train bound for the Chiba Prefecture. A two hour train ride that he really couldn't actually afford at the moment, if he was to be honest, but...  
  
He tried to talk with Mina about what was going on, but as they continued their ride, they stayed quiet, she didn't want to talk about what was going on. Finally, at almost 945pm, they made it to Chiba.  
  
"We're on the other side of Tokyo, strangers are attacking you... and I still don't know why!" Izuku didn't mean to be mean sounding, nor did he want to scare Mina.  
  
"I told you, Midoriya, soon as we check in on Eijiro, I'll tell you!" She was sounding defensive, but the way he was acting, he probably deserved it. The walk from the station to Eijiro's home wasn't too far. He watched as Mina picked up rock... and through it at a window.  
  
"Eijiro! You up?!" It was barely ten, but if he had a 2 hour train ride, Izuku wouldn't have been surprised if he was in fact not up. Mina kept throwing rocks at the window, until it opened and a head popped out with shaggy redhair, falling about his face.  
  
"Mina..." There was a rock already in the air and in impacted against his forehead. "Ow! Damn it, Mina! What do you want!?" He didn't look happy, a small welt of blood on his forehead. So quick he didn't get a chance to activate his quirk! Before Mina could speak, however, all three heard it.  
  
"HEY!" And across the street, was another man with a bunny suit! Mina's eyes went wide.  
  
"It was a trick!" Mina shouted, as the man in the bunny suit fired his weapon! And that was when Izuku saw something he thought only he was stupid enough to do when Eijiro jumped out of a second story window, quirk activating to tank the hit!  
  
"Nnnnnngh!" The hit that Eijiro took was solid, but his quirk absorbed the most of it. "Hits harder then Bakubro... nnnnngh." He tried to smile, but mere grit his sharp teeth.  
  
"Hey!" "Hehey!" "HHhhhhheeeeeyyyyy!" "Hey!"  
  
There was more of them! Why would their be more of them! Before Izuku could even figure out what was happening, both he and Eijiro found themselves grabbed by the wrist by the acid using bubblegum pink girl and they practically took off flying, as they were sliding around on her super slick acidid slime!  
  
Making their escape from the five Heys!  
  
"Mina! What the hell is going on!?" They finally stopped, another alleyway. Eijiro was breathing hard, recovering from the hit and the excitement.  
  
"Yeah, Ashido... just what is this? This isn't a prank, is it?" Izuku wanted answers. He needed answers at this point. They watched as Mina took a breath, held, then released.  
  
"Okay, we're going to let it all then. I'm not from Earth. I..." She sighed. "I'm an alien, Eijiro! I'm sorry, I wanted to tell you so badly but Papa said I can't tell anyone about it."  
  
Eijiro, for his part, of hearing this darkest deepest secret of one of his best friends, didn't know how to respond, mouth hanging open and eyes wide.  
  
Izuku put his hand to his face, he felt a head ache coming along. "Ashido, I'm going home." He started to walk away.  
  
"Wait, wait, wait, wait! It's true! You see, unlike humans, my species naturally looks like this. We naturally produce acid, not unlike humans and certain mutation quirks." Mina started to explain. Eijiro made a sound that sounded like granite grinding against itself. Izuku pinched the bridge of his nose. At least Mina was being consistent with her internal logic.  
  
"The people chasing us... they... are the Heys! Years ago, they almost destroyed the galaxy with their weapon, the Big Nothing! But the Whats managed to stop them with the help of a superhero from Earth! Unfortunately, Hey society split into various conflicting substrata! The particular Heys chasing us... chasing me? They could only be mercenaries, sent by my evil uncle to capture me!" Mina explained. Like any bad explanation, it only left more questions then answers.  
  
"Okay, Ashido... Mina..." Izuku had just about had this. "You're... an alien. The men in the bunny suits... are also aliens. They're here to capture you... because of your evil uncle?" Izuku made sure he was following along. Eijiro, was still in that state of shock that seemed way to familiar to Izuku.  
  
"It's complicated, so Papa used to be a... gosh, I don't know if any earth language could actually describe what he was, but I suppose nobility? Viscount? Margrave? We had a fiefdom, long time ago, but then my uncle ousted his brother and the only reason he could send the Heys is that he wants me back to our ancestral moon palace to marry me off to my cousin! I don't want to marry my cousin! He's a fat slug!" Mina tried to explain.  
  
Izuku thought about it, how to best poke any and all holes in this story, when Eijiro finally came back, grabbed Mina by the shoulders.  
  
"I can't believe you never told me before, Mina!" He wasn't shaking her, but... hook, line, and sinker.  
  
"You... believe her?" Izuku didn't think Eijiro was stupid, far from it, but he didn't think that the redhead was gullible!  
  
"There's no reason not to believe her! I trust her! She would not drag me out of my bed and take us across Chiba in only my pajama pants if it wasn't important." He did make an... interesting point. If there wasn't some... kernel of truth in what Mina was saying, would she do this for a prank? Then again, the shot that hit Eijiro was bruising nicely on his torso, so... could it be possible?  
  
"Besides, even if she's just playing a prank, it's not the worst thing that could happen." Eijiro spoke too soon, as a crack of thunder peeled over the sky, dark ominous clouds gathering and a down pour started. He looked miserable... no shoes, no shirt, soaking wet pajama pants.  
  
Honestly, Izuku was right there with him, as was Mina. No one was dressed for this weather, but it happened so suddenly... and all because Eijiro opened his big gob. The redhead sighed. He only had himself to blame. He never had a chance to apologize, though.  
  
"Hey!" "Hee-eey!" "Hehehehey!" "Heeeeeeeey!" "... hey."  
  
Five of them... coming down the alley, armed and pointing their weapons at the three trainee heroes.  
  
Literally out gunned, out numbered. In the pouring rain. They were wet, they were miserable, and they were in so much trouble.  
  
A crack of thunder hit again, the lighting illuminating the rooftops... and the three saw it... saw him! Standing like a statue of a tyrant... or of a pagan god, looking down upon the alley way, arms cross over a barrel chest... an inch if he wasn't seven feet tall.  
  
"HEEEEEEEEEeeeeeey!" Was all the Tick said, before leaping at the alien mercenaries, a new twist to his most unusual battle cry!  
  
**< \--- To Be Continued!**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Look at that! 2000+ hits!
> 
> Maybe I can manage my 100th kudo by the end of the day!
> 
> Oh, who am I kidding? After that chapter, you'll probably wanna take them back.


	31. Issue 28

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA Issue 28  
  
The Tick slammed into the into the ground with all the subtlety and the power of a mortar shell! The rain fell in heavy sheets, with him, as the strangely dressed aliens turned towards the Great Blue Bug of Justice! Shouts of hey filled the air as they shot at him, but as with most weaponry, it seemed, it bounced right off the Tick.  
  
A man that size shouldn't move that fast, as he charged forward, bowling one of the Heys over like a pin. The leader of the Heys was busy fiddling with his weapon, trying to change the settings from a stun setting so that they could collect Mina to something far more lethal! Only to have the weapon ripped from his hands and tossed aside like a toy!  
  
Such was the power of the Tick! Lightning struck the weapon as it flew through the air, exploding, as the Wild Blue Yonder grabbed the lead Hey and swung him around like a mighty club, taking out the rest of the Heys, before turning to the three heroes in training.  
  
"Quite the pickle you got yourself in here, chum! Having to deal with a mess of Heys." He looked over to Izuku, Eijiro, and Mina. "Anyone care to tell me who set them off?"  
  
Lightning peeled through the sky again, casting dark shadows in the alley. Izuku didn't know what to say, neither did Eijiro, not knowing how to deal with intergalactic bounty hunters that wanted to take his friend back to... well, he was sure it wasn't going to be wholesome!  
  
As for Mina, she was shock still. She knew a hero from Earth helped the Whats defeat the Heys. But she expected the likes of Caped Wonder or All Might, but this mysterious vigilante from America that had been running rough shod over the criminal underground of Japan? They knew about the Heys! That could only mean one thing!  
  
But before she could even ask her questions, or even explain what was going on, one of the defeated Heys took out a communicator of some sort!  
  
"Hey... heeeeeeeeey..." Before unconsciousness took him... it?  
  
"Uh oh!" Of the four in the alley that weren't a bunch of deranged nihilists that tried to destroy the galaxy, Mina was the only one with a smattering of the language used by them (it was mostly contextual clues). "He just called for help!"  
  
Lightning streaked across the sky, illuminating the rooftops and they saw that they were lined with more and more of the bunny suited alien mercenary bounty hunters.  
  
"... holy shit..." Eijiro finally found his voice. The odds weren't looking good!  
  
"Egads!" The Tick exclaimed. "There must be a MILLION ZILLION OF THEM! Alright, kiddos... looks like it's us four against a foe without number! But I have no doubt that between the four of us, we shall prove even MIGHTIER!" He barely let them reply before he grabbed Mina and Ejiro and leapt to the rooftops.  
  
"SPOOOOOOOOON!"  
  
Izuku followed after him. This was insane. There was no way they weren't going to get in trouble. The government was going to go and disappear them and he'll suddenly wake up ten years from now on the other side of the planet, gun in hand and standing over a dead body as his programming finally ran it's course.  
  
"Dude, that sounds like the absolute worst outcome. And you really need to stop muttering! Time and a place!" Eijiro told him, as they were soon fighting side by side. The weapons that the Heys were using appeared to be incapable of bypassing Eijiro's hardening quirk or the Cocoon that Izuku could wrap around himself!  
  
"I have to admit, if you told me this morning that I was going to end up fighting aliens in my pajama pants in the middle of a rainstorm, I'd probably have laughed at you!" Was he really bantering?  
  
"Do you really think, Kirishima, that this is the right time to banter?" Izuku asked, as he took down a pair of Heys with a single punch, letting his surge through him! The explosion of air that followed the impact took down another three!  
  
"Of course it is! We're super heroes! Bantering is like... part and parcel of the profession! Besides, me and Bakubro banter all the time during two v two matches." Eijiro's hardened arms smashed into a Hey, breaking the weapon in twain as his club of a forearm smashed into it's wielder!  
  
"Yeah, but Katsuki thinks he's the main character in his own epic. He only banters because he thinks it's cool!" In fairness, Izuku thought the same. But bantering with your team mates during an exercise or on a patrol... not fighting for your life and possibly the freedom of one of your classmates against a veritable horde alien soldiers!  
  
"Because it is cool!" He turned to Izuku, hardening himself to tank hits from the weaker of the weapons used by the alien army they were facing. "Listen, I know you and Bakugo have your hang ups, but in small doses, he's actually a great guy!"  
  
"You know what is also great in small doses, Kirishima?" Izuku took advantage of the Heys focusing on Eijiro to knock them down. "Diazepam is amazing in small doses." They were making progress, but while the Tick's declaration of them being a million zillion seemed to be hyperbole, there was plenty of foes to go around.  
  
Mina caught up with them, slipping around on the super slick acid she could make, having already ditched her shoes. "Those were my favorite pair!" She cried out, even as the super viscous low solubility acid left a near dozen of the Heys stuck together. Ironically, like any other slimy substance, the rain just wasn't enough to wash it away, even as it pounded against the roof, another streak of lightning lighting the area up.  
  
They had a small moment to breathe, as they watched the Tick play the part of the Reaper of Righteousness against the Wheat of Wickedness that were the Heys. "Admittedly, for a lunatic vigilante, the Tick is hella manly." Eijiro said, as they watched the Tick take many of the Heys on his own!  
  
"Really? Manly?" Izuku would use a lot of words to describe the Tick, but he wouldn't expect the term manly to be among them.  
  
"Yeah! Crimson Riot said it doesn't matter what your quirk is, just as long as you have a manly spirit! The Tick's spirit is Manly!" Eijiro let out a shout, his quirk firing off as he watched the display. "I'm getting fired up, watching this!" And he charged into a group of Heys that were just getting back up.  
  
Izuku just stared dumbfounded, surprised that the redhead could go and do just that. Mina came up behind him. "I wouldn't worry too much about Eijiro... he's hot blooded and has wanted to prove his masculinity for as long as I've known him. I think that's why he likes Bakugo so much, they're both so hot blooded and manly." She shrugged, throwing another wave of acid around, sticking more of the Heys to the roof.  
  
"And Katsuki's an idiot for treating life like it's a comic book or some shonen series that he can shout his way through! That's almost entirely why he lost today!" Still, he wasn't about to let Eijiro wade into the forces of evil by his lonesome, soon charging in beside him. Between the Tick, Eijiro, and Izuku... the Million Zillion Heys were battered and beaten, just as the rain started to let up, the clouds breaking up.  
  
Mina walked up to the lead Hey. "Alright, I want you to go back and tell my Uncle that if he wants to drag me off to marry my cousin, he's going to have to come down here and do it himself! Now get offa my planet!" She got into his face, practically yelling at him! The Hey's response was to nod enthusiastically!  
  
"Hey! Hey he-y hey!" He pulled out a device, typing in something... and all the Heys... all vanished in points of light.  
  
"... teleportation?" Well, they were aliens. They were bound to have highly advanced technology, though seeing it first hand was... something else for Izuku.  
  
"Ha! Look at that! You three managed to defeat an invading army of ne'er-do-wells in the pouring rain! You can feel proud about yourselves, tonight! But I, the Tick, am EVER WATCHFUL! And the call of JUSTICE waits for no man or charges! See you later, Izuku!" And the Tick went charging off!  
  
"Huh, he seemed to know you by name, Midoriya..." Eijiro said, nodding. "Eh. I'll unpack it later, I just want to go back home and take a nice hot shower and crawl into bed." He managed to yawn, stretching his arms over his head. At least it was a warm rain that they were in, but he wanted to get out of his wet pants as soon as possible.  
  
And that's when a spot light fell upon them.  
  
"This is the police! Hands up! You're under arrest for unlicensed quirk usage!" A voice pierced through the darkness via loud speaker.  
  
**LATER!**  
  
There were a few things that Nedzu preferred to do on Sunday mornings. He liked the ability to sleep in, wake up and have a light brunch, maybe make a pot of tea and curl up with a good book. The absolute last thing he expected was to be called up to the Chiba Prefecture, told that three of his freshman students were arrested for illegal quirk use during a brief rain storm that happened last night.  
  
Which meant he had to wake up far earlier then he was used to, had to forgo the brunch he had planned (and to think, he had just perfected his hollandaise recipe!), put his current novel on hold, and head two hours away to see to his wayward students. He hated playing the bad guy, but thankfully he still had some favors he could use, at least getting the arrest cleared up and off their record. He would just have to find out why they felt using their quirks was appropriate.  
  
And so it was, that he had Eijiro Kirishimia, Izuku Midoriya, and Mina Ashido in a borrowed office at the police station. Eijiro's hair was still down, no one at the station had his particular brand of pomade. All three were dressed in borrowed athletic wear from the police station, as their clothing was soaked through from their nightly activities.  
  
"Let me just start out by saying that while I'm not angry, I am quite disappointed in the three of you." He held a up a hand, silencing any protest or defense. "Let me finish. I believe that every student at my school, especially in the hero course, is capable of being some of the greatest people of their generation. It is because of that that I have spent quite a bit of political capital to make sure that your arrest has been stricken. A mistake. These things happen, sometimes." He put his hands... paws... on the desk he was sitting at.  
  
"Because I have done these things for you, I'm hoping that you could explain what actually happened in your own words." He waited patiently, looking at the three as they looked at each other and then... they told him the truth. Everything, in fact, because what else was there to do?  
  
Mina started, giving the other three a rather detailed account of her secret origins. Through out the tale of fraternal betrayal, Nedzu had her stop to ask some questions. The nature of Mina's species (it appeared that they were while mammalian, it wouldn't be incorrect to say that they were rather similar to slugs, and that would be the reason of their slime production), the nature of her home world (which needed some clarification, as far as Mina was concerned, her home world was Earth, not the place her family escaped), and the like (and interesting comment stating that many aliens used Earth as a vacation planet, because they can just claim their inhuman appearance was just a mutation quirk). There was no incredulity from the principal, just the calm questions of a teacher talking with a student.  
  
"My, my, my..." Nedzu steepled the fingers of his paws... hands... together and looked over the three. "This is quite... interesting. Did you tell the police any of this?" The three shook their heads.  
  
"We didn't think it would be a great idea to tell the police that, it seemed like a great way to get sent to an insane asylum." Izuku admitted. It made sense. You tell the police that you were fighting off a force of alien bounty hunters to protect your friend, who you just discovered was also an alien to keep her from some malicious matrimony to a malcontent member of your family, then yes, they'll call the nice young men in the clean white coats and you'll end up getting a nice jacket that laces up in the back.  
  
"No, of course not." Nedzu nodded. "It's... it is, admittedly, something to be skeptical about. But... the earnestness that Miss Ashido told her origins leaves me to believe otherwise. A lie would either be better crafted, or have more holes."  
  
"So..." Eijiro spoke up. "Are we not in trouble then?" Nedzu laughed at the question. Oh, what cheek!  
  
"No, no, no, no, nononononono... you're in as much trouble as you can be. However, there will be no punishment, as I can not fault you for defending yourselves, but do note that my eyes are upon you now, and every action you take in the next week's field training will be looked over most thoroughly." He spread his arms wide. "Rejoice, for I am most magnanimous in my forgiveness." He coughed politely. "Mister Kirishima, Miss Ashido, I'll let the two of you return home. Mister Midoriya, we have a 2 hour train right ahead of us."  
  
_The ride back home was in complete silence. I was never accused by the principal, but... there was just something so... I don't know. The disappointment was palatable and this was the second time that Nedzu took personal interest with me. I can only imagine that we were working with baseball rules and that the third time will be the last time._


	32. Issue 29

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue 29  
  
_Well, that happened. I didn't think that's how my weekend was going to be spent after winning the Sports Festival. Spending the rest of my Saturday Evening, which I would have prefered to have spent at home, instead was spent fighting a bunch of alien bounty hunters, wanting to capture one of my class mates, who was also an alien of some kind (a princess of some sort, at that), alongside another one of my classmates (and the Tick) in the pouring rain.  
  
At least I was wearing clothing, unlike Eijiro Kirishima that was only wearing a pair of pajama pants, and not much else. And yet I spent the rest of the night not taking the train back, but rather in the lock up of a local police station in borrowed clothing and having to explain to the Principal of what the hell had happened and why we got arrested. And we managed to not get punished. But now the Principal was focused on the three of us, well the two. The faculty was already focusing on me as it was._  
  
Izuku Midoriya was trudging to school. They had Field Training coming up in a few days, which was going to be extremely fun. How was he going to tell the Tick that he couldn't work with him by the fact that he was going to be training with a hero for the next week. A real pro hero with real pro hero connections that probably wasn't going to let him go out and be a vigilante.  
  
In fact, Izuku wasn't sure about telling whoever he was going to be working with about his nightly vigilante activities and just leave his Aphid costume at home and not worry about anything except what kind of ringer he was going to be put through by whatever pro hero wants to work with him. He did win the Freshman sports festival, so maybe he had a whole bunch of people asking to work with him.  
  
He came across the gates of UA, only to find Eijiro (haired coifed with care) and Mina. It was hard for Izuku to think that out there, in space, there was an entire species of Mina Ashido. Not that he didn't like her or anything, she just seemed to be... too bubbly. Best in small doses, not unlike Katsuki or the juvenile Diazepam that he was on when he was younger.  
  
"Hey, Midoriya... you think we could talk for a moment?" That was Eijiro, waving at Izuku to bring him over to the other two. Izuku thought about it, he didn't have any reason not to talk to them.  
  
"Kirishima, Ashido... what's up?" Izuku asked as he approached the two.  
  
"So, me and Eijiro were talking... and we came to a startling conclusion yesterday morning." Mina said, nodding.  
  
"Other then all the other startling conclusions that we were exposed to the other night?" Izuku flatly stated. He really shouldn't be this snarky, because it was unfair to his friends, but he had his entire view of the universe shattered over the weekend with the truth of Mina Ashido's origins.  
  
"Basically, after we talked about it, we believe you to be Aphid." ... ... ... he didn't know how to respond to the redhead, how he just went out and said it.  
  
"Yeah, the Tick knew you. He used your first name, Midoriya. He talked to you. He said see you later. That wasn't just a hero talking with a fan, that was a hero talking to his sidekick and trying to be sly about it. And failing!" Mina added, nodding.  
  
Izuku gulped. He had to think of a deflection. Change the subject. This wasn't the same as Hitoshi... the Gen Ed student was only convinced by the Tick not to use his quirk on Izuku. Mina and Eijiro weren't exactly the best (nor were they the worst) of students, despite the fact that Katsuki pulled them through study sessions, as Mina and Eijiro were some of the few people that hung out with Katsuki on the regular. But the whole passing grade for the term  
  
Would they do? Could they do? After all they went through... having helped Mina fight off aliens that wanted to take her away? Fighting side by side with Eijiro in the pouring the rain? Were they just going to betray him for an easy A?  
  
"Midoriya! You're muttering! And now, we're not going to tell anyone. We just... wanted to let you know that we knew. After last night? We're practically blood brothers!" Eijiro slapped Izuku on the shoulder.  
  
"Man, you're a real half empty kind of guy, aren't you, Midoriya? Besides, you got a more important secret to hold over me then I have over you at this point! Sure, you get in trouble and maybe wind up under house arrest. I get hauled away to some shadowy government facility!" Mina said, explaining how she was thinking about it. They were each others secret keeper and it was in their mutual interest to keep said secrets.  
  
"Shitty Hair! Raccoon Eyes! The fffffffuck are you doing, hanging out with Midoriya?" Oh, right... just in time to ruin his morning. Katsuki Bakugo  
  
"What? I can be friendly with him, Bakubro! He won the sports festival. We were just congratulating him." Eijiro explained to the explosive blonde. Red eyes looked over the redhead, then the pinkette who just gave a thumbs up, before Katsuki shook his head.  
  
"I got my eyes on you, Midoriya! You can keep your little loser squad, but don't think you can break up the Bakusquad this time!" He flipped Izuku off and headed into the school.  
  
"If that man wasn't such a loud mouthed, blow hard, egotistical and rude heel... I'd marry that man." Mina said, nodding as she watched Katsuki leave ear shot.  
  
"Same." Was Eijiro's simple reply, causing Mina to look over to him.  
  
"This isn't going to be like middle school, Eijiro! We can't keep crushing on the same guy!" Mina stomped her foot down, before she grabbed the redhead by his ear, and dragged him into the school, practically yelling at him the entire time.  
  
Izuku for his part, said nothing, and wished not to get involved with something that was clearly not his business. Besides, they were going to figure out who they would be doing their field training with over the course of the next week. He wasn't sure how many offers he got, but... whoever they were, he was sure they would teach him much!  
  
Homeroom was mostly Aizawa-sensei going over who got what offers for their week long internship. Izuku was surprised when Katsuki only got one, and even more surprised that Shoto only got two!  
  
"The hell!? I got second place!" Katsuki didn't take it very well. The offer was from Best Jeanist, a Top Hero, so what was he complaining about? Izuku hadn't even opened who his offers were from. He was surprised that he only got less then a dozen, champion or not. Though, part of him wondered if perhaps All Might had a hand in that and made sure to pick the ones that would be capable of teaching him.  
  
"Part of the problem, Bakugo, is that everyone saw you insult Midnight during your fight with Todoroki. Turns out if people think you have an attitude problem, they'll stay clear of you." As Aizawa-sensei's response and only response to the whole mess that Katsuki was causing. Katsuki for his part kept grousing about it.  
  
Izuku tuned him out. Katsuki for all his complaints he had about people, he did like to bitch about everything. He looked over to Minoru. "So who did you get offers from, Mineta?" The shorter boy was his friend and they sat somewhat close by.  
  
"I got a few, but I narrowed it down to two. Mt. Lady..." Izuku remembered her, she was the one who's debut happened that same day he met All Might. She stole that capture from Kamui Woods. "Or... Mandalay."  
  
"Mandalay? Of the Wild, Wild Pussycats?" That was... thinking about it, Minoru could be a good rescue hero, his glue balls could work to hold rubble up and the like.  
  
"The Wild, Wild Pussycats, you say?" He thought about it, before crumpling up Mt. Lady's offer. "Sorry, big and gorgeous, but I'll take a group of cute catgirls any day of the week." Izuku sighed. Baby steps, that's the way the world work, baby steps and one day at the time. On the other hand, Izuku couldn't help but notice the hollow look on Shoto Todoroki. He only received 2 offers.  
  
"Uh... Todoroki... who did you receive offers from?" Izuku thought he was just being polite when he asked. But the other teen, with his half red, half white hair looked at him with a somewhat hollow look.  
  
"I only received two. One from my father... and one from the only man on the planet Endeavor can't intimidate." He showed the other offer and Izuku couldn't help but gasp! Honestly, he wouldn't have expected that!  
  
"The Superian? ... I didn't know... I mean..." He was sputtering. The Superian was right up their with All Might, him and Caped Wonder. He took a breath. "Do you know which one your going to go with?" An offer from the Superian was as rare as hen's teeth.  
  
"I believe I'll be going with my father. Much as I find it an honor for the Superian to ask for me, there's a few things that only my father that could teach me. And very rarely would I get this opportunity to show him how much I've grown lately without his input." How petty and spiteful.  
  
Still, homeroom was soon over and it was time for class with Midnight. "Today, children, we'll be deciding your superhero names! Now, do remember, this is something that you will carry for the rest of you career. While they can be changed, it's rather difficult and merchandising rights are always a pain if you change your name." She brushed that off rather easily. "15 minutes and we'll see what we have."  
  
Honestly, there was only one name that Izuku could think of using. Sure, his costume was inspired by All Might, but he wanted to distance himself from the source of his power... and really distance himself from the Tick. It was simple and he liked it: Jack Rabbit.  
  
He thought it was odd that Shoto was just using his name, but when you were the son of the number 2 hero of all Japan, a secret identity wasn't really in the cards. He wasn't surprised that Eijiro went with Red Riot, as he was as big a Crimson Riot fanboy as Izuku was an All Might fanboy. The irony of Mina going with Alien Queen made the two others in the know of her origins feel rather uncomfortable, but Midnight convinced her to go with something else.  
  
And of course, there was the absolute hilarity of Katsuki's superhero names.  
  
"King Explosion Murder!" "Bakugo, no."  
  
"Baron Psycho von Punch-plosion!" "No."  
  
"King Carnage!" "Try again."  
  
"Kolonel Killgore!" "You can't call yourself a colonel if you're not a colonel."  
  
"Mega Killatron!" "... no."  
  
"Explod-King!" "... no."  
  
"Deathsplosion!" "... no."  
  
The back and forth between Katsuki and Midnight was rather entertaining. Eventually Midnight, just slumped against the podium and told Katsuki no without much thought. It was getting passed comical.  
  
"Miss Midnight, may I offer a suggestion for Bakugo?" Ochako Uraraka, going by Uravity as a hero, spoke up and stand up. Everyone looked over to the explosive blonde.  
  
"If Round Face has a suggestion, let's hear it." He was waving all their concern off, and then Ochako said it.  
  
"The Going Nuclear Hero: Ground Zero!" That got Katsuki blinking. And he thought about it.  
  
"I LOVE IT!" He turned to Midnight, expectedly.  
  
"It's as good as any. I'll allow it."  
  
"Fuck yes! Thank you, Round Face!" Wow, he actually thanked someone. Katsuki must've been really happy.  
  
Eventually, lunch time was quickly approaching, and class was dismissed.  
  
"I'm tellin' ya, Mineta. I saw what I saw." That was Denki talking with Minoru, walking right behind Izuku.  
  
"I'm not saying you didn't, Kaminari, I'm just saying that one, Uraraka is a friend of ours, we shouldn't spread rumors. Two, her and Tsunotori are friends. And finally, three, just because two girls are holding hands that doesn't mean anything. Girls hold hands all the time." Izuku tried to drown out the conversation. Baby steps, that's what it took with those guys.  
  
However, as soon as he entered the cafeteria, everyone was looking at him. And not the look at the strongest freshman student way, either. But more like look at the weirdo. There was Pony off to the side, she was sniffling.  
  
"I'm sorry, Izuku! He said he wouldn't tell anyone!" Tell anyone... what was she talking about...? And then he saw him. Neito Monoma.  
  
"Well, well, well... if it isn't Izuku Midoriya. The strongest freshman! Who likes to spend time in dark alleys, getting faux rescued from faux danger by his girlfriend, dressed as a faux hero!" ... ... ... oh. Of course. Life always found a way to bring Izuku back down. He felt a blush burn on his face, as... well, not everyone, but certainly quite a bit of the freshman class in the cafeteria began laughing at him.  
  
But he grit his teeth, and looked at Neito. He needed to say something. Anything.  
  
"So what if he does, Monoma? He at least has a girlfriend that supports him, warts and all!" That stopped the laughter, and left Neito stunned. It left Izuku stunned as well, as everyone turned to see Mei Hatsume as she spoke. He walked right past Neito, still blushing, but this was better then being outed to the school as a vigilante, at least.  
  
_The things I had to put up in life. Perhaps all this was just karma... perhaps it was something I could eventually apply to my hero career. The Tick never seemed embarrassed about anything, if this is how high school is going to go, maybe I won't feel embarrassed either? Though, it did appear to be a long road to walk, thankfully I didn't have to walk it alone._  
  
Tomura Shigaraki wasn't exactly a heavy sleeper. He had long nights, usually just seething at how much he hated All Might. Or posting on forums about how much he hated All Might until he got perma-banned. Or even just long marathon gaming sessions... or watching streams of long marathon gaming sessions so he could improve his game.  
  
Oh, the Brainchild was going to rue the day when he outed himself as a cheating cheater! He was going to figure his way around Gran Torino even if it killed him!  
  
To say that he was upset when he was woken up at six am by the sound of a truck backing up was a grave understatement. He practically stumbled out of his room and into the main portion of the bar and discovered that the Breadmaster had finally arrived from America and appeared to be...  
  
"... where the hell did this construction crew come from?" Tomura asked, looking around. Where was Kurogiri, he'd have the answers.  
  
"Ah. Shigaraki, you're awake. With our erstwhile ally from America finally arriving, renovations on the bar have started." Kurogiri explained, further telling him that in the mean time, they would be moving living quarters to a motel for the next week or so. Though the Breadmaster had stated that he'd done more with less in a shorter period of time.  
  
He felt his eye twitch. Basic cable and bad wi-fi? How was he going to live like this! A whole week without being able to play and he might end up going down in the world rankings! Just getting into B ranking of the Silver Class was enough to drive a mortal man mad! If he started to slip and fall, he might go back into bronze! A lot could happen in a week!  
  
As he moved his stuff from the bar to the motel, there was no way that this could get any worse for him.  
  
Only to find the other bed occupied with the Brainchild and his robotic dog.  
  
"Oh, hey, Tomura. Looks like we're roomies! Isn't this gonna be the best week ever?"  
  
He really wanted to scream. He really did.


	33. Issue 30

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue 30  
  
_So, my deep dark secret was exposed. Neito Monoma... using his own manipulative charisma to needle it out from Pony Tsunotori. The whole freshman class now knew what me and Mei got up to. Once again, at least I wasn't outed as a vigilante, I don't think I could ever recover from that._  
  
Izuku Midoriya was still blushing even as he took a seat at the table, waiting for his friends to join them. First was Mei, sitting next to him. Followed by Minoru and Denki, the two of them havng the largest leering grins on their face.  
  
"Midoriya, you dog!"" Minoru said. "Getting Hatsume to go for things like that? Phew! I didn't think you had it in you!"  
  
"Yeah, man! I never would have thought that you could be that... you know, kinky!" Denki added.  
  
"C'mon guys. It's embarrassing enough that Monoma found out..." Izuku had been blushing since he entered the cafeteria, with Neito exposing his dark dark dark secret that wasn't that dark and wasn't really a secret and not something he was into. Well... he wouldn't go that far, if he was being honest with himself.  
  
Who wouldn't want to see their girlfriend running around in cosplay like that?  
  
"Don't worry, Izuku. Mineta and Kaminari are just jealous." Mei stated, looking at the two.  
  
"Got me there."  
  
"I'm man enough to admit to that."  
  
Itsuka Kendo soon joined them. "I want to apologize for Monoma. He can be..." She thought about it, trying to think of the best way to describe Neito Monoma.  
  
"A spiteful prick?" Mei supplied. She wasn't wrong.  
  
"You're not wrong, but I would use different words." She sighed. "I like to think Monoma's a friend, and I'd like to think he does everything for a reason, but..."  
  
"He's a living breathing dumpster fire..." Minoru said. Itsuka thought about it again.  
  
"Well... he tries really hard and I like to think of him as my friend, but he just seems to have this chip on his shoulder..." The ginger girl sighed, she didn't know what else to say. Kaminari started to laugh.  
  
"I got it! He's like that little kid that pulls the hair of a girl he likes!" He snapped his fingers. "All he wants is you to notice him, Kendo!"  
  
"If that's the case, wouldn't he be doing this so I'd notice him?" Everyone turned to Izuku.  
  
"Not that there's anything wrong with that." He quickly added as he became the focus of everyone at the table, another blush threatening to burn his ears and face.  
  
"No, I think Kaminari has the right of it. Monoma is... prideful. He has a drive to be the best, and I think not being the best has made him declare war on you, Midoriya."  
  
"I'm honestly not the best, though." He tried to deflect.  
  
"Are you kidding, Midoriya. I saw the results of the practical exam. You got a total of 80 points. Only Bakugo was close to you." Minoru said, Denki nodding and backed him up.  
  
"And you were in the top percentile for the written exam!"  
  
"I only managed to get 80 points because of the secret rescue points. If Katsuki knew he'd get a better score by helping people, he would have." He didn't want to sound defensive, but he wasn't that special, not when he was compared to everyone else. They all belonged here, he was no better then anyone at this table.  
  
"That's a load of shit." Minoru said to him, practically frowning. "1, the blonde bastard doesn't care about helping people, he only cares about fighting. We should count our lucky stars that he decided that villains are his choice of opponent. And 2, stop that. Stop it right now! You saved my life, Midoriya! So who cares that the rescue points were secret! If you weren't there, chances were I was going to get hurt. I might've been killed!" Izuku was taken aback by Minoru's outburst.  
  
"Mineta... that's..."  
  
"It's bullshit, is what it is!" The other teen stood up. "I'm tired of hearing you downplay what you do and what you did! Kendo would have gotten hurt. Kaminari wouldn't be here. And I'm certain that the teachers wouldn't have let the Zero Pointer harm any of the students. If it wasn't for you, I was going to be crushed by debris from a 3 pointer!" He let out a sigh.  
  
"I think I lost my appetite. Enjoy the rest of your lunch, guys. Sorry for ruining lunch." With that Minoru went to leave.  
  
"Wait, wait, wait... Min... Minoru, I'm sorry. I don't... I don't mean to sell myself short." Izuku wasn't sure what else to say or do. Minoru was his friend and he didn't realize what his feelings about everything were.  
  
"You going to stop it? There's nothing wrong with being humble, but you're treating every victory like it's an accident. It's not. Every single one of your victories is brought upon by your own hard work, your own intelligence, your own sense of selflessness!" He sat back down and drained a can of milk tea. "Phew, now that I got that off of my chest, has anyone seen Iida? I noticed he wasn't in class and Aizawa-sensei didn't mention anything about him not being in class."  
  
That... was a good question. He knew that Hitoshi said he would miss lunch, since he had a bit of a discussion with one of the teachers about his performance at the Sports Festival, but the last time he saw Tenya was right after the Sports Festival when he got a call from his mother.  
  
This was worrying for Izuku. Supposedly his mother was calling to congratulate him on third place, but... perhaps it was something bad. He would have to remember to send a text message to him. See if he was alright.  
  
_Still... I couldn't help but still be excited. Soon enough, I would be doing field training with a professional hero! I would have to talk with All Might and see who he would suggest of the 8 heroes that wanted me to work with them, I would assume that he had a hand in them choosing me to begin with._  
  
**Elsewhere!**  
  
"This is quite the set up that you have, Mister Overhaul." The speaker was a man well into his 90s, wearing a suit at least three generations out of date, his head topped with a bowler. Standing next to him could have been his twin, another ancient man in a top hat.  
  
"I concur, brother. We certainly could benefit from the Shi Hassashi's infrastructure." The way they talked to each other honestly unnerved Kai Chisaki. He saw enough creepy twins, but he never saw anything like this. Two ancient elders pulling off a bit that would more appropriate for twenty year olds.  
  
"I'm sorry, what did you say you wanted to move? And who did you say you were with?" He asked. The fact was, the two showed up out of the blue, vouched by some of Kai's own lieutenants as being reliable and willing to do work.  
  
"A drug." "The drug." "Perhaps you heard of it?" "It makes weak quirks strong." "It makes strong quirks monstrous." Were they talking about... no, it couldn't be, could it?  
  
"Are you talking about Trigger?" Could the newest rumor in the underworld be tied to these two gentleman.  
  
"Oh yes. He's smarter then he looks." "He'd have to be, brother." "Absolutely. Are you interested?"  
  
"... in trigger?" Not really. Not for himself. Quirks were a force multiplier that changed the way crime worked, the way the law worked. Heroes. Villains. What happened to honest criminals? It's why he was glad he had his ace in the hole.  
  
"It's simple, our distribution..." "Has taken a huge hit, unfortunately." "As the Romans said, expand or die." "We'll offer a nice cut of the pie." "To sweet the deal." Dealing a drug that turned weak quirks into power houses? Powerful quirks into monsters? Seemed like it was only useful to selling to small timers and those that wanted to go and take on All Might.  
  
"Is there anything else you'd want in return, perhaps?" He didn't like the predatory grin the two showed. No one should show that much teeth when they smiled, bright neon white.  
  
"Of course." "Ten doses of trigger." "For ten rounds of your special ammunition." "Seems like a fair trade, no?" No, not really. Not to a pair of strangers. Though it was strange that they knew about it. Perhaps he had a leak in his orginization. But... as distasteful as he found Trigger to be, he had his fair share of underlings with weak quirks that could benefit from a little boost if they ever had to face a pro hero.  
  
"Only ten rounds? I suppose a deal could be made. But... I'm curious, who are the two of you?" He had to know. They knew who he was, it was only fair that he knew who they were.  
  
"Ah. Yes." "Of course. I'm Charles." "I'm Terrence." "And that's all you need to know."  
  
How mysterious. But... they were paying well and they were giving him a gift. Perhaps his own chemists could figure out how Trigger worked and he wouldn't need these two. Reverse engineering his quirk erasing bullets on the other hand... much more difficult.  
  
"Well then, I suppose we have a deal."  
  
"Ah. Mister Overhaul is very smart, then." "So he is, brother, so he is." They bid him good day, tipping their hats at him, before they made their leave. There was something about all of this that wasn't sitting well with Kai. Something that was leaving his stomach twisting in knots.  
  
He had this rather startling feeling that the deal he just made may be detrimental to him in the long run, but... he doubt he will sow the wind with this deal. How bad could a pair of 90 year old men be?  
  
Outside of the Shi Hassashi compound, the two old men got into limo, the soon drove off. Inside, other then the driver, there was one other occupant.  
  
"Well, did you manage to get a deal with this Overhaul asshole?" The Terror asked from his seat, bundled up in a blanket, cannula in place.  
  
"Is that the first thing you have to ask, Daddy?" Terry said with a sigh. "Yes, yes. I think we managed to secure a few rounds of those so called quirk erasing bullets." That was the goal. Trigger was just a means to an end. The data they were getting from those that used it was great for the Terror's scientists. But if they could find something that could also erase a quirk, that was something they truly needed for the Terror's plans to go into motion.  
  
"... did you do you dumb creepy Terror Twins bit? Where you finished each others sentences?" The Terror asked his two boys. It was creepy as hell... back when they were 20, but they were adults, for chrissakes. They should know better.  
  
"What's it too ya, Pop? It was supposed to keep him unnerved. On guard, but on what we wanted him to be on guard of." Charlie replied. "Overhaul likes to think himself of a big fish, but he's not that big a fish. He's ambitious, but it does him no favors."  
  
"Of course not, he's willing to make a deal, sight unseen with who his would be allies are!" The Terror started to chortle, then coughed, a wheezing hack filling the vehicle.  
  
"Perhaps he feels he'll betray us, before we betray him?" Terry said, before the two twins laughed uproariously.  
  
Not. A. Chance.


	34. Issue 31

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue 31  
_  
Other then the fact that Neito Monoma had the personality of a dumpster fire and seemed to be made up of mostly petty spite, the day really wasn't that bad. Apparently my reputation wasn't that trashed, as people realized that apparently I was able to convince a incredibly beautiufl girl to model sexy costumes for me and do what I want. Apparently after some thought, what Neito wanted to be embarrassing, turned into something that could be... if not admired, then at least not needed to be derided.  
  
Of course, there was the whole Field Training coming up and I still needed to confirm with who I was going to go with..._  
  
Izuku Midoriya was getting ready to leave for home, when he was approached by one of his two mentors. The Symbol of Peace, the Number 1 Hero of All Japan! All Might!  
  
"Young Midoriya, do you have a moment, my boy?" The Towering Titan of Truthy, the Blonde Behemoth of Beneficence asked the green haired youth.  
  
"Absolutely, All Might! What do you need to talk about?" He had an idea. He was probably going to talk to him about his Field Training coming up.  
  
"I was hoping to talk to you about who were going to do your Field Training with." Look at that, totally correct. "One of the pros showing some interest with you is Gran Torino!" Gran Torino... he knew of the hero and their Jet Quirk. They used to be one hell of a hero, but as far as Izuku knew...  
  
"Isn't he retired?" Sure, Gran Torino was in the Hero Fighter series starting with III, but mostly as a joke as it used the... far more older version of the Jet Hero.  
  
"Well... yes... but he was my mentor, so long ago. A partner for my predecessor and quite the teacher!" He scratched the back of his head. "At least much better then myself."  
  
Izuku thought about it, then thought about it some more. "There's only one issue I can see with this." It didn't need to be said, wherever Izuku was to go, the Tick would follow. All Might gave a polite cough.  
  
"Which leads to the next point... Torino knows about the Tick." Because of course he does, why not?  
  
"Partly because I'm not sure even if we sent you to Torino, that the Tick wouldn't show up on his own volition." It was a good point. He was pretty sure that the Tick had a special Izuku sense that let him know where exactly the green haired teen was at any time.  
  
Though, the Tick said that it was Destiny that told him where to go and how to work. Izuku didn't exactly buy that, but the Tick's powers were so otherworldly compared to other quirks, even something as fantastic as One for All.  
  
"Does this mean we have to talk with the Tick? It means we have to talk with the Tick?" Izuku sighed. This was possible. Especially with the Tick living with the Midoriya's now.  
  
"If by we, you mean you." ... of course. Why not? Though, in all fairness, the Tick seemed to listen to Izuku... most of the time.  
  
"Sure. I suppose it won't hurt." Izuku was way to be smart and not jinx himself, unlike Eijiro did with the whole rain that happened. And possibly the police catching them.  
  
Which meant, that later that evening, he was sitting at the kitchen table with his mother and the Tick and he was telling them what All Might told him.  
  
"And that's it. All Might thinks I should go with his old mentor. More then that, he suggested that..." He motioned over to the Big Blue Bug of Justice. "The Tick should come with me."  
  
"Hmmmmm..." The Tick stroked his chin, thinking about this. "Hmmmmm... and this Gran Torino... is an older hero, no? This is an opportunity like no other!" The Tick stood up, gesticulating!  
  
"This is an opportunity, Izuku! One we could both benefit from! From this Gran Torino, we shall milk the lactose-free pearls of wisdom!" Oh, he was getting into one his speeches, as he grabbed Izuku by the shoulders and lifted him into the air with the greatest of ease.  
  
"Can you feel it, Izuku!? As the prior generations pass along their their tips and tricks for being a better hero!" He wasn't shaking the poor lad, but Izuku was trying to get the Tick to put him back down. "Sorry, chum, I got a little carried away." And he put the teen back down.  
  
"The only problem I have is that... well... you're... very much you. I can't imagine having you hide out for a week, but..." Izuku was trying to figure out the various logistics of the Tick going with him to staying with a hero for a week. They couldn't really take the train, and if he was seen traveling with the Tick then that could be a problem.  
  
"Haha! No worries, sport! But I have that covered already!" He seemed to vanish into the living room and came back... wearing a tie. "Behold, no longer am I the Tick, but Nick Placeholder! Intrepid Reporter!" He stood proudly, arms akimbo.  
  
"... I think you need a disguise a bit more... disguise-y." Izuku replied. There was no way that anyone could be... foolish enough to think that a tie would be enough to work.  
  
"Are you kidding? This is a hypnotic tie! I picked it up from Caped Wonder when he was my sidekick for a while." That was a story that Izuku never heard about.  
  
"... Caped Wonder. The Caped Wonder. By all accounts the first Superhero... was your sidekick?" Izuku was incredulous about the whole thing. And who wouldn't be? It was the craziest thing he ever heard from the Tick. And that was saying something.  
  
"Well, I mean... I tried to make him my sidekick... but he was kinda against the whole thing and then there was all the trouble we had at the newspaper and I kinda destroyed his car... and his desk... his Fortress of Fortitude." The Tick pondered it for a moment, tapping his his chin.  
  
"Now that I think about it, that would explain when we met up a few years afterwards he was quite upset." He shrugged. "Oh, well, doesn't matter, not important! What is is that with the power of the Hypnotic Tie, I, the Tick, will be capable of traveling incognito with you!"  
  
"Or..."  
  
"Or?"  
  
"Or... we could travel as the Tick and the Aphid! I did win a nationally televised sporting event, the absolute last thing I need is for people to recognize me on the train ride to Gran Torino's town..." Izuku suggested. The Tick seemed to light up at the very idea.  
  
"Most excellent! Get suited and booted, Izuku! I'm so excited that I think I hear the collect call of heroism already! A night of derring-do against nefarious ne'er-do-wellers will do us some good before we travel to see this master of magnanimous munificence!" The Tick exclaimed, he always exclaimed. Izuku looked over to his mother.  
  
"Just be home before 1, please!" She told the two before, Izuku raced to his room to put on his Aphid costume.  
  
_Looks like I was right on course to having this work out. I'll learn from the same man that taught All Might, my favorite hero. And not only that, perhaps... perhaps some sanity was going to rub off on the Tick, because that was exactly what my life could use. Some stability and sanity._  
  
Minoru Mineta had been fidgeting the entire time, while on the bus. He had looked up Mandalay's hero career and saw that the Wild, Wild Pussycats were rescue heroes. Not only that, they specialized in mountain rescue.  
  
When he sent his email saying that he accepted Mandalay's offer for field training, he got a quick reply saying that they saw his quirk in use and thought that it could be rather useful in rescue situations and more. He wasn't sure what to think! Someone was telling him that his quirk wasn't weird and it wasn't useless and it wasn't a party trick.  
  
Well, someone other then Izuku Midoriya, of course! He was so excited, he actually left a whole day early to meet up with the rescue hero team leader!  
  
Soon enough, the bus pulled up to the stop, Minoru took a step off, and just waited, looking ot his left... and looking to his right. There was absolutely nothing in either direction. This was the right place, this is where he was supposed to meet up with them. But... where the heck were they? Where were the cute catgirls? There was only some burly dude!  
  
"You Minoru Mineta?" Said burly dude asked him. ... ... ... this wasn't what he was promised.  
  
"Who... wants to know?" Minoru asked, taking a step back from said overly muscular and super tall burly dude.  
  
"Relax, kid. Mandalay asked me to pick you up, I'm one of her team mates." Oh, well... maybe he should've gone and researched more then just Mandalay and instead her team, but hindsight. With his suit case loaded into the man's car and one short drive later, he was meeting the rest of the Wild, Wild Pussycats.  
  
"So... you're the one with the trap balls, huh?" The blonde woman was looking over him. "I saw how you used them in the relay race and against your friend in the final leg. That was really clever."  
  
No, she wasn't looking at him... she was leering at him! There was a glint in her eye that made him sweat, a single bead running down his face as he leaned back away from that gaze. There was a greenette there as well, that bopped the blonde!  
  
"Have you no shame, Ryuko! Mister Mineta is here for a field evaluation. And not only that... he's Shino's charge for the week." She was practically bouncing around the blonde as she berated her!  
  
"C'mon, Tomoko! My biological clock is ticking so loud you can hear it!" She was stamping her foot. Stomp, stomp, stomp! "I can't turn back the hands of time!"  
  
Minoru took a step back. The last thing he thought would happen was some blonde Christmas Cake was going to start hitting on him like that. Sure, she was cute, but she was like technically old enough to be his mom. He took a step back... then another. While the two were distracted by each other, he made a run for it, before running into a brunette.  
  
"Ah ha! You must be Minoru Mineta, right?" She asked. Minoru looked her over, narrowing his eyes.  
  
"That depends... you gonna start hitting on me too on the downlow?" The brunette chuckled.  
  
"I see you met Ryuko, I wouldn't worry about her. I'm Shino Sosaki, the hero Mandalay. You've already met Pixie-Bob, Ragdoll, and Tiger. And thank you for accepting our offer for your field training. When I saw your quirk in action, I had so many ideas on how you could get the most out of it." She nodded, leading the hero in training through the little compound they had set up.  
  
"Well, the first thing I thought when I saw you offered to take me in for field training was that rescue heroing would be a good fit for me!" Minoru lied through his teeth. Lied like a lazy dog. He didn't need to tell them that he was interested in hanging out with a bunch of cute catgirls for a week. Only to find that one of them was a dude and another was a hungry Christmas Cake. He had to suppress a shudder.  
  
Is that how girls felt like when he was in middle school? It was really eye opening.  
  
"Oh! I almost forgot." Mandalay was talking to him again. "And this is my nephew, Kota." She introduce him to a child. A very unhappy looking boy with black hair and a red horned cap.  
  
"Uh... hey, little guy?" Mineta greeted, Kota continued to glare at him. Mineta turned his head to address Mandalay.  
  
"Not much of a talkerrrrrghk!" As soon as he took his eyes off the little bastard, he kicked him right in grapes!  
  
"Kota!" He didn't hear the rest of the aunt berating her nephew, as the agony he was feeling continued to crash through his body as his eyes rolled back into his head and he fell backwards. This really really really wasn't what he was promised at all!


	35. Issue 32

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA!  
  
_This was it. The two of us were on the train headed towards, the Tick refered to, as the Hall of Heroic Knowledge, with it's care taker, the Jet Hero: Gran Torino! Due to my own nature, I knew quite a bit about the hero, but I thought he was retired. On the other hand, it was possible that he knew more then All Might was telling me. Perhaps Torino knows something about the nature and origins of One for All?  
  
Time was going to tell..._  
  
"... and then as I saw them pour from the dam, a VERITABLE YULE TIDE!" The Tick had been telling his young ward, the Amazing Aphid, a story about that time he saved Christmas from the mysterious machinations of the Multiple Santa.  
  
"Wait... did you just end this on a pun? You spent almost 20 minutes telling me about this... just to end on a pun?" Aphid didn't know wether to laugh or to cry! He felt like he had a head ache coming on.  
  
"Awww, c'mon! That's a good one, and you know it's a good one! Besides! I saved the day and I got to meet the real Santa Claus!" ... ... ... Aphid didn't have the heart to tell him. Sure, the Tick was crazy! Insane! But there was a kind of innonence and he wasn't going to be the one that went and shattered it.  
  
The Tick almost killed Endeavor when he thought that the flame hero had killed Aphid. Who knew what telling him the truth about Santa would do to him?  
  
"That's... that's great Tick." It wasn't so bad, the two were on the train, avoiding the looks of the various commuters and students. The Tick was famous through out the country, the world, even! And so was the Aphid.  
  
Well, so was Izuku Midoriya, but Izuku Midoriya was the Freshman Champion of the UA Sports Festival. Izuku Midoriya was a hero in training! But Izuku Midoriya was approachable, he was relatable.  
  
That was not to say that Aphid wasn't approachable or relatable either, in fact, if Izuku had ever thought about it, he behaved so much differently when he was wearing the Aphid costume, wearing it's mask. He never stuttered as Aphid, it didn't matter if a pretty girl was talking to him. It didn't matter what the danger was.  
  
Aphid was honestly everything that Izuku wanted to be. Brave. Confident. Capable. He was hoping that he could transfer that to his other costumed identity, Jack Rabbit. But it was harder, as others knew who was on the other side of the mask of Jack Rabbit, but he still had this anonymity with Aphid.  
  
The Tick was still talking to him, and Aphid hadn't actually heard a single thing he had said, too lost in the thoughts of a teenage boy trying to understand his place in the world.  
  
"I'm sorry, Tick, but what were you saying?" The best way of dealing with the Tick was sometimes you just had to be direct and honest.  
  
"I was saying that our stop is coming up. Next station after. You as excited as I am, chum?" Oh! They were that close? Aphid was excited! Learning at the feet of hero as renowned as Gran Torino! What he could learn from the elder hero, the experiences he could gain.  
  
"Tick, I think it's more of a question if you're as excited as I am! A week long apprenticeship! And maybe, just maybe, you'll learn something worthwhile too!" At least that was the hope.  
  
"Oh, I sure hope so! Other then lived experience, Aphid, you'll find no greater teacher then an elder hero! And from what I can tell, there's no hero more elder in this land of the rising sun then Gran Torino! Ooooh! I'm so giddy! I wonder what kind of stories he has to tell!?" Of course the Tick was more concerned over the stories that Gran Torino would tell then what wisdom he could impart to the two of them.  
  
"Never change, Tick. Never change!"  
  
Soon enough, the train came to their station and it was time to follow the directions to the home of one Gran Torino. The Tick gave a low whistle as they walked through the neighborhood.  
  
"Gotta say, Aphid... this Torino guy certainly knows where to hang his cape!"  
  
"It is a nice neighborhood, but I think it lacks the charm Mustafu has. I mean, it's too calm... it's the type of place you want your grandparents to live." Aphid replied. Still, this was the kind of place that he would like to retire too if he ever made it that far.  
  
Then again, superheroes never retired, not really. They just took a step out of the spot light and focused on other things of import! Being a super hero was more then just punching the bad guys in their face, after all! Soon enough, they were standing in front of the town home that All Might said Gran Torino called home.  
  
"I really hope that Mighty Man told Gran Torino to expect us." He thought for a moment. "Wait, no. If he didn't tell him, we might get to fight! That'd be EVEN cooler!" Aphid would never get the obsession that American heroes seemed to have with fighting each other. It just seemed like a distraction that criminals could take advantage of!  
  
He rolled his eyes, and knocked on the door, only to find that it was both unlocked and unlatched!  
  
It slowly opened.  
  
"Look at that, he was expecting us!" The Tick stated, as Aphid walked in.  
  
"Mister Torino? Hello! All Might should have told you to expect us...." Aphid looked around, headed towards the kitchen. He barely rounded the corner, as he let out a loud scream, having come across the grisly scene of a murder!  
  
There he was, Gran Torino, lying in a pool of his own blood, guts and viscera strewn around him!  
  
"TICK! TIIIIICK! SOMEONE KILLED HIM!" This was too familiar to him, he had to calm himself down, regular his breathing before he started to have a panic attack!  
  
And then the corpse sat up.  
  
"ZOOOOOOOOMBIE!" And with that, Aphid... Izuku Midoriya couldn't take it any more and fainted dead away.  
  
It was a blissful, dreamless sleep that Izuku came out of, his head was hurting and it was a blur of what had happened. He finally woke up on the couch, the Tick was there in the living room, on a chair.  
  
"Hey, champ! Gave us quite a scare there." The Tick told him. Izuku was confused.  
  
"... us? What? Gran Torino... he's...!" He felt a chill down his neck. He couldn't be... was he? He turned his head to the side and saw the elderly man sitting next to him. Very much not dead.  
  
"But... I... you... but..."  
  
"Sorry about scaring you like that. I was setting up my lunch when I fell over. Sausages with ketchup..."  
  
"So... what I thought was blood... was ketchup... and what was supposed to be your guts... were sausages and..." He put his head in his hands. "You did that on purpose, didn't you!"  
  
"I can neither confirm nor deny that I planned on messing with you this entire week." He shrugged, looking away from Izuku. "Toshinori didn't mention that you were a bit high strung."  
  
"H-high strung!? I thought you were dead! Murdered!" Izuku yelled at him. It wasn't the first cooling, bleeding corpse he saw, but that wasn't something he never wanted to get used too.  
  
"Listen, kid, I said I was sorry. It did get us off on the wrong foot. So we're just gonna have to put it behind us and work through this week. So get suited up. In your hero costume, not your vigilante costume."  
  
"... what about me, Mister Torino, sir?" The Tick asked. Torino looked at him and smiled.  
  
"Tell you what, Tick. Hold down the fort, and I'll tell ya a story when I get back." There was no way that the Tick was going to go for that.  
  
"BOY HOWDY! I'll make sure that no evil doer makes it into your secret lair of justice!"  
  
Of course. The one thing that the Tick was more interested in beating up bad guys... hearing stories from the likes of the heroes that came before him. Izuku still gave a sigh and suited up in his Jack Rabbit costume, hood down. He found Gran Torino waiting for him, the Jet Hero standing... well, proud as an old man could be with a cane and a comically small version of their costume.  
  
"So... are we... patrolling? Isn't that kinda illegal?" The pro hero looked at Izuku, who came into his house dressed as a vigilante. Right, not exactly the best thing to have scruples over.  
  
"Not this time. You're performing field training with a pro hero. I might be retired, but I'm still licensed. So all this? Totally legit." Gran Torino and Izuku were walking side by side on the sidewalk. "So... here's how this is gonna go, Midoriya. I'm gonna put through the same paces I put Toshinori. We'll find ourselves a crime, I'll have you stop it while I observe." That didn't sound so bad, really.  
  
"How do you expect to find a crime to happen, though?" Izuku was curious how this was going to work.  
  
"Oh, that's easy. See that place over there?" The elderly hero pointed to what appeared to be some kind of bar... pool hall. Something. They were in what Izuku would call... a not so good part of town, but not so bad that you'd worry about getting knifed for your trouble. There was a row of motorcycles in front of the building.  
  
"Yeah. Local hangout for a biker gang, huh?" Izuku observed.  
  
"They call themselves the Lords of Thunder. Head honcho has a lightning quirk. Also an asshole, but you probably know the type. Unfortunately, some poor soul is going to end up raising their ire after knocking over all those fancy bikes."  
  
"How can you be so sure about that? We can't wait all night for something that might not happen."  
  
"See, kid, here's the thing. This is your field training, and I have to evaluate what you're capable of before I can figure out what you need to know. So like a papa sparrow, I'm kicking you out of the nest." The hero replied, before grabbing Izuku by the wrist, who barely had a chance to see what was happening... and throwing the hero in training towards the bikes. "Don't worry! If it gets to hairy, I'll step right in to save your ass!"  
  
Izuku Midoriya would like to say that he had never felt such betrayal in his life, but there was when Katsuki started bullying him for reasons he's still trying to figure out when he finally came back to a real school. There was when that doctor told him that he'd never develop a quirk and should just stop worrying about it. There was when All Might told him that his dream was unachievable!  
  
But he managed to get over... at least two of those? Maybe that first one? Him and Katsuki weren't outright antagonistic any more, but Izuku wasn't sure if they'll ever go back to where they were before. Oh, the things you find yourself capable of thinking when you were flying through the air before crashing into expensive bikes belonging to what he could only assume were a bunch of vicious, spiteful bikers.  
  
He thought about pulling his hood up, but never got a chance as he got to his feet, and got back onto his feet, just as nearly a set of a dozen ne'er-do-well burly bikers came out of their bar, looking for the five and a half foot kid that just probably made, in their eyes, the biggest mistake in their life.  
  
Izuku felt himself slip into a stance. He was only out numbered by like 10 to 1. He laughed at those odds! Even if it was only something to calm himself down. They were surrounding him, with their billy clubs and chains and brass knuckles.  
  
He faced worse on his first night with the Tick.  
  
"Gets to your head, don't it? Some little punk ends up winning some little school yard fight and thinks he's badass." That must have been the leader of the Lords of Thunder, a man that towered over his underlings. "Why don't we teach him a lesson he won't soon forget!"  
  
Looks like there was no explaining what actually had happened, but he set up his Cocoon. He had a feeling he was going to need it! As well as slipping on his Full Cowl, 15%. These guys wanted a fight? Then he was going to give him a fight! He pulled back a fist and went to charge the closest one!  
  
Only to find that the real difference between villains that wore costumes and criminals that just had quirks is that the criminals were, nine times out of ten, more able to work together. He never got a chance to land a hit, as a chain wrapped around his arm and it was pulled back! A singular distraction for a tire iron to crack across his back!  
  
"Nnnngh!" He grit his teeth, taking a step forward. He had to concentrate. Shake the daze from his head, as another burly biker, wielding a weapon, came after him. This time he managed to land his hit, launching the criminal into the air! That was one, eleven more to go. He made a mental note: Get a mouth guard.  
  
He could do this. He had to do this. He had to show Gran Torino that All Might didn't make a mistake, that he was worthy of all this power! He had to change the way the fight was going, he had to change the direction. He leapt backwards, cresting over the gathered thugs. 15% should be enough as he grabbed the forks of one of the fallen bikes and found it adequate to move it and swung!  
  
One! Two! Three!  
  
A clean sweep bringing the amount of foes to eight, but he lost his grip on the machine and it went flying through the plate glass window of the bar. He didn't mean to do that, but whatever. Can't focus on what he wanted to do or not wanted to do! Four of them rounded onto him, as the boss was content to just watch. That was good. Of this lot, he was certain only the boss had a quirk that was any dangerous.  
  
He ducked, he side stepped, and punched! His fist impacting against the side of the thug on the right! His power flowed through his body and his arm and his fist and his opponent!  
  
BOOM!  
  
Another three went flying. That left two more, not including the boss. He rolled his head, cracked his knuckles. "A lesson, huh? Looks like the only people learning are you lot." He knew he complained to Eijiro about bantering while fighting, but these guys weren't even close to being on his level. And the boss was content enough to keep throwing his underlings at him, then he'll let him.  
  
The boss, for his part, didn't say anything to Izuku, just clapped the final two men on the back. A signal, perhaps? He saw the two pull out a vial each and his eyes went wide. They couldn't have... they were... the two thugs downed a vial of Trigger each, their quirks accelerating through evolution.  
  
The man with the large eyes soon became a monster with 360 degree vision. The other, with his fuzzy bear like ears turned into the most frightening monstrous panda that Izuku had ever seen. He looked just passed them... and saw Gran Torino, asleep on a bench.  
  
"Awwww... crap..." This was fine. He could deal with this! The panda monster was faster then anything that big had any right to be be and was on top of Izuku in an instant! Izuku was lucky that the monster used a mighty backhand instead of it's claws! Cocoon was always best at absorbing concussive blows, he only managed to have it stop a sharp blow once or twice and still wasn't sure how he got it to work!  
  
That didn't stop the fact that such a thing still hurt, nor did it prevent him from flying backwards, landing with a heavy crash against the wall of a building. He groaned, as he got back to his feet. If it wasn't for Cocoon and the power of all One for All, he was certain that his back would have been broken and he would be at the mercy of these criminals.  
  
But with Cocoon? With One for All? He was nigh night invulnerable. Still hurt like a bastard, though.  
  
The monstrous quirk user charged him, even as Izuku put the power of One for All into his legs. He had to fight smart, against the foes with weapons and weak quirks he was fighting dumb. Sure, his bell was still ringing from that last hit, but he could do this!  
  
At the last moment, he leapt over the monster, placed his hands on the panda's shoulders and as he felt his power in his arms, he shoved the monster head first into the wall, a large crater forming as the panda pulled back, snarled... then fell forward losing consciousness!  
  
Izuku felt his lips curl into a smile, as he looked over to the other two. He was winning. He was doing this!  
  
The problem with the other was the whole 360 vision. Or at least he had assumed... the man was covered with eyes now.  
  
But what do they say about assuming things?  
  
He dropped to the ground as a beam of light left the eyes of the multi-eyed criminal, with a loud Bzowt! It hit a car, which vanished with nary a voip.  
  
Everyone looked surprised at that. Izuku was certainly surprised, but so was the thug! Apparently he didn't know what he was capable of now that he was under the effects of Trigger. A pause that Izuku could take advantage of! Pushing his power into his hands and arms, he launched himself into the air! Right and twisting himself, he landed a mighty kick upon the gut of the multi-eyed monster criminal and sent him flying!  
  
It also planted Izuku firmly on the ground, but he was still smiling, all he had to do was get back on his feet and...!  
  
Pain coursed through his body, just as the electricity did! Take your eye off the enemy even for a second and they would make you regret it.  
  
"You must thing that you're a real piece of work, don't you?" The leader of the Lords of Thunder clicked his tongue and for good measure shot Izuku with another bolt of lightning. "I think you're a real piece of shit!"  
  
Izuku couldn't move... his muscles and nerves were fried and frayed! He could barely feel anything except pain. He supposed that was a good sign, it meant he wasn't crippled.  
  
"Punks like you piss me the hell off. 'Oh, look at me, I went to a school what taught me to be a hero.' Well? How's that working out for you so far?" He picked Izuku up with one single meaty hand and brought him in close. "You gonna answer me, you bastard!?" Izuku for his part, gave a smile.  
  
"How's this for an answer?" Izuku shouted at him, as he landed a head butt on the man. With Full Cowl and Cocoon... with the power of One for All... well, very few people were capable of taking such a blow and the Lord of Thunder wasn't one of those that could. He dropped Izuku before falling down like a sack of bricks, leaving the green haired boy in the middle of the beaten and battered bikers and the devastation from the brawl that happened.  
  
"Whelp..." Oh, look, Gran Torino, the cause of this mess finally walked up to Izuku. "Looks like I got my work cut out for me. I don't think a week of field training is nearly enough to fix all these problems. Just what has Toshinori been teaching you?"  
  
"... what are you talking about? The fact I'm not nearly as hurt as I could be is nothing short of a miracle and should be a testament to All Might's training!" He felt indignant, but who wouldn't in this situation?  
  
"Fact is, kid, is that you fight too much like All Might, who would've managed this fight in seconds. But you? You're way too shrimpy to be fighting like All Might or that Tick friend of yours. Though this gives me an idea of what we should focus on. Also, you really need to learn how to dodge. You aren't a tank and if you keep doing that, One for All be damned, you're going to end up being blasted apart." He shook his head, helping Izuku back up onto his feet.  
  
"C'mon, let's head back. This has been really eye opening. And I know what we'll be focusing on this week."  
  
_I have no idea what he has in store for me, but if the fact that I survived a 10 on 1 fight was something that I should be scolded for... I think I was starting to understand why All Might didn't talk about Gran Torino that much, whether it was in his interviews with the media or even in class. It all made sense, too much sense. Gran Torino was a horrible monster that was going to put me through hell this week._  


Tenya Iida knew what he was doing. His brother, bless him, wasn't one for revenge, and he wouldn't want Tenya to go after Stain. It didn't matter, though! He couldn't just leave this standing! Tensei wasn't capable of dealing with Stain, leaving it upon the shoulders of the Engine Hero's younger brother! It didn't matter how many maniacs the Hero Killer had recruited into his cult.

It's why he wanted his field training internship in Hosu City, with Manual. No one could... no one should know that he was seeking revenge. His family was hurt, so he would hurt the one that caused his family pain. His behavior hadn't changed, no one saw the simmering agony just under the surface of him.

He couldn't talk with his friends, no one could understand what was happening to him. What could they tell him? That it didn't matter what happened to his brother? That he wasn't dead, but what kind of life did he have?! He could wake up today, tomorrow, next year, next week, next decade! The doctors didn't know and more importantly it wasn't about his brother, it was about how his family was hurt! How could no one see that?

Not his friends. Not his parents. Not anyone!

This wasn't about the attack on his brother, it was about how everyone would let a monster like Stain stick around! Everyone that let Stain walk around like the monster he was, was an indirect endorsement of his cruelty!

The fact that only he could see this... it made him sick. But once he removed Stain... once he got his closure... he was sure, he was certain! That he could go back to normal. That life would be normal. That when his brother woke up, everything will be fine.

Or so he hoped.


	36. Issue 33

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue 33  
  
_I think I was starting to understand why All Might didn't talk about his time with Gran Torino. The man was a menace! What kind of hero, retired or otherwise... training a rookie or otherwise! Why would anyone think it was a good idea to throw a teenager to the wolves like that!?_  
  
It had barely been two days and Izuku Midoriya felt like dying. He was battered and bruised, the remnants of a dark shiner on his right eye. He was lucky that his nose wasn't broken or he wasn't missing a tooth. He was looking in a mirror, checking his injuries, no broken bones, but he was covered in horrible, awful bruises. Big ugly purple splotches, smaller yellowing spots... they made it hurt to move!  
  
"And he calls this training?" If he didn't know any better, he'd say that the Jet Hero was trying to kill him! But that couldn't be the case... he popped a pair of extra strength acetaminophen tablets and trudged downstairs.  
  
"There a good reason why you aren't wearing a shirt, Midoriya?" He turned his head to see the retired hero at the table, then turned back to the cabinets to fix his breakfast.  
  
"Because I want you to see what you've done to me..." He looked through the cabinets and found a box of Drama Flakes, his favorite cereal! He grabbed the milk from the fridge, a bowl, and sat down at the table.  
  
"I've barely been here for two days and you managed to throw me into a brawl with a bunch of bikers. Which was my first day here, and yesterday... you rented a pitching machine and you told me to dodge!"  
  
"I let you use that little technique of yours, didn't I?" He didn't look up from taiyaki. Why wouldn't he?  
  
"If I hadn't I would have broken my bones!" He took a deep breath and he didn't need to ruin his morning, so he just went and poured his cereal and started eating.  
  
"Goooooooood morniniiiiiiiiiing!" The Tick finally entered the kitchen, bright eyed and bushy tailed. "It is a bright beautiful day! The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and the world cries out for JUSTICE!" He looked over to Izuku. "Oooh! Drama Flakes!"  
  
This was quite possibly the weirdest breakfast that Izuku had ever had. Though he was dreading what was ahead of him that day. He could only imagine what torturous training the retired hero had planned for him today.  
  
"So... what's the plan for today? Gonna throw me into the ocean? Drop me off at the top of Mt. Fuji? How about tying a weather balloon to my leg and see if I can keep from freezing to death!?" For his part, the Jet Hero seemed non-plussed at Izuku's accusations.  
  
"You know, kid, Toshinori didn't complain nearly half as much as you did in the entire time I've known him then you have in two days." Izuku didn't know how to reply to that. He was sure that there was a difference between All Might and himself. Hell, he was certain that there was a difference between All Might and himself, actually!  
  
"Anyway, here's the thing. You already figured out how to use One for All adequately. You got that little protection thing you got going on and you can reliable use... what? Up to 20% of your power without pulping your limbs? That's good, but you gotta learn to fight smart. Fightin' like this chump..." He hooked his thumb over to the Tick. "Or worse, Toshinori, is gonna end up with you in the hospital. Until you learn how to get all bulky like Toshinori does or hit a growth spurt, you can't keep tankin' everything."  
  
It was something for Izuku to think about. And it was something that he heard from his classmates and teachers. That he spent too much time fighting like he was eight feet tall and bullet proof. That was fine for the likes of the Tick and All Might, who may as well have been eight feet tall and bullet proof, but he was only five an a half feet tall, and sure he put on a lot of muscle mass over the last year or so, he just didn't have the bulk to fight the way All Might or the Tick did.  
  
In a way, Gran Torino was right. He needed to fight smarter. He needed to dodge better and learn better footwork.  
  
"Does this mean more pitching machine sessions?" He really didn't want to know the answer, but he was certain that the answer was yes.  
  
"It's gonna be more then just pitching machine sessions. Learning how to dodge a ball or traffic isn't going to do you much in a real fight. That means sparring, kid! And from what I'm told you're only a brawler, not much more skilled then those bikers from the first night. That's great in a school yard scrap or dealin' with drunks in a bar." He finished his breakfast, wiping his mouth off. "But if you're going to face a real villain with real skill, you'll end up sliced up like a deli ham in an alley way."  
  
That was not a mental picture that Izuku needed so early in the morning, especially while he was eating.  
  
"Hey, I think you're being to hard on Izuku! He's got a heart of a true hero beating in his chest! And a regular three pound universe between his ears! So what if he can't fight! Where do you think I learned how to fight criminals and evil doers? You think I had the opportunity to lie at the feat of wily wisdom in the ways of heroics? Sorry, try again! I only had the lived experiences of fighting evil directly to learn from!" He could always trust the Tick to stand up for him! Even if he was sitting.  
  
"Ah, yes. Tick. I have a gift for you." Torino started, changing the whole tone and direction of the conversation.  
  
"Oooooh! Watcha get me?" The Tick went from being stern to sticking up for Izuku... to being more interested in whatever it was that Gran Torino had for him. Izuku sighed as he felt another piece of himself wither and die inside. The Tick, greatest hero he ever knew... kind of an idiot. Especially when the Jet Hero produced a ball of yarn.  
  
"Here you are, Tick! My gift to you." It was a large, blue ball of yarn, rolled tightly. It was as big as a man's fist and Torino tossed it idly.  
  
"Gimme gimme gimme gimme!" The Tick was like a damn puppy, wanting something so inane as a ball of yarn that Torino tossed behind him and the Tick launched himself at it not unlike a kitten.  
  
"You really shouldn't take advantage of him like that." Izuku frowned, finishing his cereal. Torino shrugged.  
  
"I know, but it's the safest way to keep him occupied that won't end with him destroying the house or leaving in search of crime to foil."  
  
With breakfast done and Izuku dressed in costume again, he trudged to the training grounds that Gran Torino had set up. And his new arch nemesis, a Throwmaster 9000 Mega Pitcher. The retired Jet Hero was busy pouring a bucket of baseballs into the hopper, before turning to look at Izuku.  
  
"... aren't you going to turn it on?" Izuku was wary. He had every reason to be wary! Gran Torino was a wily old man that just waited for you to drop your guard before hitting you with everything he had! And everything he had was quite a bit, for something old enough to be Izuku's grandfather, the man was capable of throwing a truck.  
  
"I going to. I want you to think, though, for a moment. Midoriya, you told me that you can safefly use One for All at... what? 10%?" The hero asked, wanting some clarification.  
  
"Well, with my costume. It's specially designed to keep my limbs from exploding. A tight fit and support struts keep my arms and legs and fingers from breaking, dislocating, and... exploding." The Jet hero nodded at Izuku's explanation.  
  
"And Cocoon... you say you build up a layer of One for All's power in your skin, stiffening and hardening it to create a protective barrier?"  
  
"Well, it's more like a dozen layers, but yes." Izuku explained to Gran Torino. It was more then just a dozen layers and it was less hardening and stiffening then it was a protective shell.  
  
"And Full Cowl... you go and you wear One for All's power, letting your whole body bear the brunt of it's amazing power?"  
  
"Yes, but... I can only do up to 20% of One for All's power while in Full Cowl." He watched the Jet Hero stroke his goatee, looking for the micro expression that would let him guess when he was going to shoot at him with the pitching machine.  
  
"Excellent. So I want you to figure out how to make it so that you can do something similar... that will help you dodge."  
  
... ... ... he thought about Gran Torino's words. There was... well, some insight into his power from what he said.. One for All, from what Izuku could tell from the use of the quirk was an enhancement quirk. It made his skin tougher, it made his muscles stronger.  
  
Strength was good for things like running, he could run very fast, though not as fast as Iida, but few were. Protection was good for absorbing blows, tanking them as best he could, as well as defending others. But if he wanted something that was fast twitch, good for dodging and the like.  
  
He had his chin in hand, looking down as he pondered it. If he could put One for All's power into... say... his ligaments... his tendons... his nerves, then perhaps... it would work. The enhancement to his nervous system would make it so that he could relay his thoughts. Powering his tendons and ligaments would, in theory, twitch faster...  
  
He was already fast, this would make him quick!  
  
Though, he would be under constant tension, not unlike a strung bow or a compressed spring! This was his eureka moment! He felt his quirk, deep inside him and drew upon it! Channeled it into nerves, a tingling sensation he felt from the tip of his nose to the ends of his fingers to the soles of his feet. It was a little harder to local all that sinew... tendon and ligament.  
  
"I think I got it!" He looked up just in time to see the baseball come hurtling towards him like a looming watermelon, slowly filling his vision! He tilted his head, as she stepped to the side, as the ball sped up past him.  
  
"Excellent!" Torino called from his position by the pitching machine, flipping the switch to let the Throwmaster 9000 do what it does best: Fire off a barrage of high speed baseballs.  
  
Thankfully, Izuku was still tense enough that he could feel his body moving, like it knew what he wanted before he did! It didn't matter how many were headed directly towards him, he was able to move before they could hit him. And he knew they were dangerous! That this wasn't some trick! The near misses that would brush a fold of his costume or a lock of his hair... he could feel the 80+ MPH they were traveling at!  
  
Soon enough, the balls stopped flying by him and he saw Gran Torino smiling.  
  
"I have to admit, Midoriya, you're a lot smarter then Toshinori every was." Torino nodded. "Anyway, here's your warning."  
  
... warning? Why would he need a warning...!  
  
And the Jet Hero launched himself towards Izuku!  
  
He had to be fast, think fast! He tensed himself up, feeling Tension take hold of him, covered himself in his Full Cowl, and in the space of a heartbeat, built a dozen layers of Cocoon! Just in time to sidestep the Torino!  
  
But the much older hero was a wily one, using his Jet quirk to change direction on the fly and hit him in the side, sending him flying! He righted himself in the air, slapped the ground with his, spun several times and landed on his feet! With his power still in his body, he moved his legs with the awesome strength of One for All, moving as fast as he ever had before, fist cocked back!  
  
Fighting against Gran Torino in _Hero Fighter V_ was a lot different then fighting the man himself in real life. Go figure! Gran Torino was capable of doing things that his in character sprite wasn't, and yet still had the same tiny, tiny hit box! He didn't have to duck around Izuku's arm at all, just shot up and slammed a fist right into his arm pit.  
  
He flew back again, landing back on his feet.  
  
He was laughing. This was amazing! It was just like the video games!  
  
"I feel... I feel great!" He shouted out, still laughing, still smiling! He may as well been 4 years old again, watching that first All Might video! But why wasn't Torino attacking him again, it made him frown. Were they stopping? But he didn't want to stop!  
  
He wanted to continue feeling like this forever!  
  
"Izuku!" ... he tilted his head. The elder Jet Hero never used his first name. No one every used his first name. Only the Tick and his mother used his first name.  
  
"We're stopping right now." Torino was frowning and Izuku could taste something in his mouth. He wiped his face and pulled away the red stains on his glove.  
  
"Oh, my nose is bleeding... wow...!" And then his eyes rolled back and he fell.  
  
Hours later, Izuku Midoriya came too with the mother of all headaches. He sat up, holding his head.  
  
"Ugh... I feel like I spent the night with my head on a bass amp..." He looked around and saw the Tick and Torino sitting there.  
  
"Hey, Sport!" The Tick said. "You gave us a little scare there, buddy!" Gran Torino rolled his eyes.  
  
"What were you doing, Midoriya? During that Spar? Near the end there...?"  
  
Izuku had this thing about it. He was using Full Cowl and Cocoon and his new technique, Tension, at the same time. He said as much.  
  
"How much would you say you were using? Of each?" That... was a good question, actually. He started low, because he was using all three, but as he got into the fight he was quickly increasing the percentage for each.  
  
"... uh... maybe... 30% each?" Seemed about right.  
  
"I don't think you should do that any more. Using them at your max ability at the same time. Kid, I'm pretty sure you almost had a stroke." That would explain the nose bleed. "Look at it this way. You got three stats. Speed, Protection, and Strength. What you have to figure out is how to balance them. Because I don't think that you can use all three at the same time as max level without suffering something horrible."  
  
Izuku thought about it. This did make sense, he was still new at using One for All and each step forward seemed to be another leap towards the stars, with it's own little drawback. Cocoon had issues with small, fast strikes. Full Cowl at 10% didn't produce the same results as 10% in his arm, but he wasn't hurt by Full Cowl. Tension made him speedier, quicker, allowed him to dodge, but it seemed like it took conscious thought out of the equation.  
  
And using all three together? Torino was right, he was putting his body under stress that it wasn't designed to be under. He wasn't using 30% of One for All, three times... he was using 90% of One for All as far as his body was concerned!  
  
"... I'm guessing the rest of this field training is going to figure out what tolerances I can use if I have all three up?" Izuku asked, only to see Torino sigh.  
  
"Listen, Izuku... you almost had a stroke. I don't want you using all three unless you can help, and I want you to keep yourself under 50%... total, mind you!" He paused for a moment. "I don't want to tell Toshinori that I got his heir killed because he did something stupid with his power on his brain."  
  
"Right... not killing myself. Sounds like a plan!" He gave a smile and a thumbs up and did his best All Might impression!  
  
Gran Torino blinked and grimaced. "... uh... can you not do that?" Izuku stopped. "Anyway, get a shower and get suited. The three of us? We're gonna go on patrol!"  
  
"HOT DAWG!" The Tick was excited. Of course he was excited.  
  
One shower later and the three were out in the evening air, three superheroes with their eye out for trouble and ne'er-do-wellers and all evil doers!  
  
"So... since I got the two of you here... I ever tell you about the time I fought the Terror?" Torino asked, as they walked down the sidewalk. The other people out this late were giving them a wide berth, and for good reason.  
  
"You fought the Terror?" Izuku was surprised. Gran Torino was the right age, but... the Terror? Really?  
  
"Absolutely. I'm closer to 80 then 70. Every hero my age has a Terror story or two. Anyway, it was me and the Superian and... another friend of ours..."  
  
_The rest of the Evening was rather... boring, all things considered, but Gran Torino did manage to tell us some stories back when he was in his prime! Fighting the Terror! Racing Caped Wonder for Charity! A whole host of super battles that I only saw alluded to in my favorite comic books! For all his faults, and honestly, he had a few, Gran Torino truly was a fount of heroic wisdom! And All Might was right! I was going to benefit much from his teaching!_


	37. Issue 34 - Hero Training Special

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue 34 Hero Training Special!  
  
**Katsuki Bakugo**  
"I know what you're thinking, Mister Bakugo. You're thinking why me, why do I have to be placed through all of this." The number four pro hero was Best Jeanist and he was known for being strict as hell. Most of the interns that Katsuki met said as much, so did his sidekicks.  
  
"I like things orderly, and you... are disorderly. I saw it at the Sports Festival. Everyone did. And maybe it suits you. But I'm not too sure it suits professional heroics all that much." He was pacing in his office, talking to the hero in training.  
  
"You'll note that I'm the only one that offered to take you on this little field training exercise. And that's for good reason." He thought for a moment, then again. "Some men my age like to take on a project. Some build a wood shop in a shed and make furniture. Others find a project car and spend a decade working on it. Me? I find a different approach is best. I like taking unruly heroes in training and try to make them some what presentable." He turned to see the ash blonde slouching in the chair, looking at him with his piercing red eyes.  
  
"You have a point you're trying to make here?" The hero in training rudely asked. Tsunagu felt a pinch in his eyes... the on set of a horrible, awful headache. He took a deep breath.  
  
"The point I was trying to make is you're a rude young man that doesn't have the personality befitting a hero. I'm going to spend this week making sure that if we can't change your personality for the better, then perhaps we can at least fake it for the public."  
  
"So you want to train me to a better liar, huh? That doesn't seem very heroic either. Call out my faults all you want, but at least I'm honest about it."  
  
It was going to be a very long week. Tsunagu pinched the bridge of his nose.  
  
"I think, Mister Bakugo, that you're going to become the sole focus of my hobby until I retire. But that's okay. If I can have a hand in making you a top ten hero, then what's a decade's worth of work?"  
  
**Hitoshi Shinsou**  
To say that Hitoshi was surprised that he was chosen for Field Training was... well, why wouldn't he be? He was a General Education student. Why would he be picked for the Heroic Course field training exercise? But a hero had their perogative and they were allowed to ask for whoever they wanted.  
  
Still, it was surprising just the same. But on the other hand... given who he was going to be working with...  
  
"Does this really count as Field Training if you're a teacher at UA, Aizawa-Sensei?" Hitoshi had asked the man that agreed to train him for the week.  
  
"Do you not want to do this, Shinsou? If that's the case, I can send you right back to 1-C and enjoy my week of cat naps and not having to grade papers." The Erasure Hero yawned, and leaned back against the wall.  
  
"So... what are we going to do this week?" Hitoshi was excited when he told his parents what was happening and they were happy for them, but he wasn't exactly sure what this whole field training thing was supposed to be.  
  
"You know, Shinsou... I was a Gen Ed student too. Being able to erase a person's quirk for as long as I can stare at them isn't much good against robots. So I had to improvise. I had to be meaner, stronger, and better then the rest. You're overly reliant on your quirk, and your overly reliant on Midoriya." Aizawa said from his position. As an Underground Hero he didn't have much of an agency, it's why they were at his office at the UA.  
  
"Midoriya... has a thing about helping everyone, even if it's to their detriment." Hitoshi could admit this. It wouldn't be so bad, but Izuku helping him at every turn would stunt his own growth. Showing him how to do a proper exercise, to build up some kind of muscle before the Sports Festival, that was the way to help him. Carrying him over the finishing line like he did?  
  
That only hurt him.  
  
"I know the type. They'll break their back carrying others, not knowing just what it does to them." He sighed. "Unlike the others, you won't be doing patrolling or the like. First we have to give you a force multiplier. Something that can take advantage of your quirk, as well as something else to rely on."  
  
"Like... martial arts?"  
  
"Martial arts. Support gear. The fine art of quipping."  
  
"... you... you quip?" The stern teacher of 1-A didn't seem like the type.  
  
"No, of course not. You're not going to be learning that from me. Tell me, Shinsho, are you familiar with Ms. Joke?"  
  
**Ochako Uraraka & Pony Tsunotori**  
Ochako didn't ask Pony to join her with Gunhead. It was... nothing but coincidental that they both happened to get asked to participate in this week's field training at Gunhead's agency. And it was just happenstance that they both agreed.  
  
They were friends. Friends did these kind of things. She just had to ignore the way the blonde American, who was so kind and so friendly and so... bubbly...  
  
It made her heart flutter. But then again, so did Izuku Midoriya, until she discovered that he was already taken, by that crazy girl in the support department. Not to say that Mei Hatsume wasn't bad, she was just...  
  
She needed a distraction, and working for Gunhead provided the distraction she needed!  
  
Patrolling.  
  
Martial arts training.  
  
Eagerly learning everything she could about heroics from the Battle Hero! She wasn't going to think about Mei Hatsume or Izuku Midoriya or even Pony Tsunotori, despite the fact that they were at the same agency right now!  
  
She yelled as she hurled the dummy across the room, the training equipment crashing against the wall next to the door that the horned blonde walked through.  
  
"Wow, Ochako... frustrated much?" She asked her friend.  
  
"Sorry, Pony... it's just... it's complicated." It was true and she didn't know how else to explain it. To explain her feelings that she hadn't even sorted out herself. It was enough to make her angry and she was about to grab another dummy when...!  
  
"Hey! Don't worry about it, Ochako! I'm here for you!" Pony was hugging her and Ochako felt herself relax.  
  
"Th-thanks, Pony." She felt... she felt much better, as she placed a hand on one of the blonde's. "I really need that."  
  
"Hey, Ochako... I care for you, and I don't like seeing you unhappy!" ... and then an absolute miracle happened when she kissed Ochako's cheek. "Now... let's get some dinner, I'm starved!" She let the hug go, and headed out, leaving Ochako rubbing her cheek, blushing deeply.  
**  
Eijiro Kirishima**  
Eijiro never considered himself a hero otaku... not like Izuku Midoriya at least. He was certain that kid probably posted to every single hero fandom board in Japan... and maybe even more internationally! But no, the only thing that Eijiro was focused on... was his hero. The one hero that was greater then any other of the previous generation!  
  
Crimson Riot.  
  
Sure, he had a few offers of field training, but he turned them down. There was only one hero he wanted to learn at the feet of, even if he was retired. Even if he was in seclusion. Even if no one could find him.  
  
It didn't matter. Eijiro would. It wouldn't even be the most impossible thing he had done in the last month! In the last week, even! He still couldn't believe it! His best childhood friend... was a space alien and he never even noticed! After you fight of a million zillion aliens, clad in strange bunny suits they may have been, it lights a fire in you to do something else impossible.  
  
The days leading up to the field training, he scoured the internet, looking for any sightings. Anything that could tell him where to start his search. All he needed was a rumor! And maybe... maybe he was taking his fan-boying just a bit too far. But if one was to be a hero, one had to show that he had a manly spirit!  
  
And so like in many an old martial arts tale... here he was, sitting on his knees in front what could only be the dojo he was looking for. Well, true, it was only a single family home, but it mattered not! What were they going to do? Call the cops!  
  
The first day passed with no issue.  
  
The second day was slightly harder then the first.  
  
Then came the third. He was wasting his field evaluation, but it didn't matter. This wasn't about a grade or anything. This was about proving to himself something far more important then a letter on a report card!  
  
"What're you doing, kid?" He didn't bother looking at the speaker, just continued to stare unrelentingly at his goal.  
  
"I'm proving my worth to Crimson Riot! Through total dedication I have refrained from food or drink, proving to him my own manly spirit!" He did answer the speaker, though. He wasn't rude!  
  
"You don't need to do that, kid." The speaker replied.  
  
"Then you'll find that we disagree on the subject."  
  
"I think I know what will or won't impress me. Now c'mon, lets call your parents and have them pick you up." It was only then that Eijiro turned and faced the other speaker. He was older, but that was to be expected! He should have guessed that this would have happened!  
  
It was his hero, Crimson Riot!  
  
"Y-yes, sir!" Eijiro rose to his feet, ready to tell Crimson Riot just why he had come here. Perhaps... perhaps this week wasn't a bust after all!  
  
**Tenya Iida**  
He never thought he'd be in such a place, such a situation. In these dark alleyways, in these dark places. He was one that so sure that the rules and laws of society was what separated them from the animals, but what did any of that matter?  
  
When everyone let the greatest animal of the nation go about, doing whatever he felt like? No, if he was to be the one that took down Stain once and for all, he would need every edge he could possibly get. And some that he couldn't.  
  
Which was why he was here.  
  
"Oh my." "What a change in the wind." "To see such pride fall... tchtchtchtchtchtch." The two he met... there was something about them that he didn't like... some part of the back of his brain, the part that still mostly dinosaur, was shivering at the two men he was meeting.  
  
"I've... I've heard that you... you know where one can get..." He gulped. He could do this. It didn't matter if it was illegal. It didn't matter, all that did right now, was revenge.  
  
"You're looking for Trigger." "Aye. First dose is free." "If you like it, come back." "If you don't, stay away." "It will take you places, though." "Hopefully you'll like them." They handed over the vial. He had cash in his pocket to pay for it, but here it was... he was getting a drug from a dealer giving away a free sample.  
  
"Be sure to take all of it, Mister Iida." "A half dose is a half measure." "A half measure is disastrous." "You'd want to avoid disaster, no?" He nodded, pocketing the vial, before walking away. The two old men waved at him.  
  
He had the distinct feeling that he sold his soul to the devil, the vial hot in his pocket. But it didn't matter.  
  
One day he would be able to forgive himself.  
**  
Shuuichi Iguchi**  
He didn't like this. He was supposed to be Stain's number one disciple! His number one fan! And here comes this Dabi... with his strong quirk and his amazing tale and his goal of killing the Number 2 Hero of All Japan! Endeavor, from the way Dabi told it was nothing more then a monster, well in need of a visit from Stain and Spinner... the lizardman knew better.  
  
He could sense a trap. All the information that Dabi had on Endeavor, it was almost too good to be true. The emotional and mental and physical abuse that the Flame Hero put his family through? Who could believe that! And where would Dabi have gotten this information? But no, Stain bought it, he bought it hook and line and sinker!  
  
Pain flashed through his face as he was struck!  
  
"You're flagging, Spinner! You're not focusing on the fight!" His teacher, Stain, shouted at him. Training. Always training. When they weren't on the hunt and they weren't actively hiding, Stain took it upon himself to train his disciple. Hand to hand martial arts, swordsmanship, athletics and acrobatics. These were all things that Stain used to make up for the fact his quirk was ill suited for most combat.  
  
He claimed that he would refine Spinner into something similar. To take advantage of skill, strength of arms, and untamed fury to over come any opponent!  
  
Or maybe he just liked beating the lizardman. That was just as likely, given the relationship that Stain and he had, one of constant cult like admiration for the man and his ideals and how he was improving society with each faker removed and each lesson taught... to the disdain of a ill thought out fan boy, thinking he could touch the sun.  
  
But it didn't matter. Stain's dream was his dream. One where society didn't need to fear criminals and villains, one where heroes stood up for their ideals instead of a paycheck or for popularity. They were building a better world. They didn't have the luxury of a conscience.  
  
"Now, get up. Try again." Spinner picked himself off the floor, bringing his sword up once again and charged!


	38. Issue 35

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue 35  
  
"So your plan... is to unleash a half dozen of those monsters you have into Hosu City in some act of revenge towards Stain because... why?" The little meetings that Chippendale had with Kurogiri and Tomura were always eye opening for the American super criminal.  
  
Of course, knowing that the typical meeting area, the bar located in Kamino Ward was currently off limits, something about the Breadmaster's renovations upon the bar to make it into an actual gastropub. The exact kind of thinking one would expect from that particular kind of crazy from one of Chairface's compatriots from the city of the City.  
  
"Stain told me to fuck off! Who knew that he was such an All Might fanboy!" Tomura was on a rant. Chairface tuned him out as the hand wearing youth gesticulated wildly about how Stain would rue the day and honestly he didn't give a shit. He turned to Kurogiri, the man normally behind the bar, but now instead he was chatting with the man in their current secondary location.  
  
"You think it's wise to let him rant like that, Kurogiri?" Chairface asked. Tomura didn't even notice that Chairface had stopped paying attention to him.  
  
"It's better for him in the long run, to be completely honest. Letting him rant and rave, means he's not dissolving anything." Kurogiri replied, as they both watched Tomura continue his rant, going on to not just Stain, but All Might and the whole professional heroic industry.  
  
"AND WHEN ALL THE EYES ARE ON ME?! STAIN WILL REGRET NOT JOINING MY LEAGUE OF VILLAINS!" He finally sat down heavily, all the ranting and raving left him out of breath. Chairface... Kurogiri would say that the American clicked his tongue, but he wasn't sure just how the anatomy of Chairface's head worked.  
  
"How delightfully petty."  
  
It was strange being in costume on this train ride, but Torino said that since the field training week was almost up, he wanted myself and the Tick to return back to Mustafu, and I can show All Might what I managed to learn! Also, apparently Torino wanted to catch up with the Number 1 Hero of All Japan. I'm sure All Might was looking forward to that.  
  
"Tick, you do realize that Paul isn't really a Japanese name, right? I think your samurai friend is pulling your leg." The Tick, as he had promised, had finally regaled Izuku with the tale of the Night of the Million Zillion Ninjas! It did seem a bit... odd, especially his friend Oedipdus and of course, Paul the Samurai.  
  
"What? Of course he was Japanese! He knew everything about the Thorn of Oblivion! The source of all Ninja power through out the world!" The Tick was easily excitable, but none of that seemed like it was real.  
  
"... the Thorn of Oblivion, you say?" Tornio replied, nodding his head. "I've heard that it went missing a few years ago and was actually destroyed... but to hear it directly from you... hmmmmm..." He scratched his chin. "I think I underestimated you, Tick. To think you had a hand in that... I'm honestly impressed!"  
  
Izuku looked between the two. The man vigilante of Mustafu... and the Jet Hero, Gran Torino. No, no way that he was believing this. He couldn't believe that he was believing the Tick.  
  
"Listen up, Midoriya, I've been in this business long enough to remember when every single Yakuza punk was the scion of some long dead ninja clan or had to deal with his great grandfather locked into the family sword and all sorts of nonsense that'd give you the heebie jeebies."  
  
"Really? Ninja? Ghost samurai? Do you hear yourself talk?" Izuku was certain, was sure, now. Gran Torino had gone completely senile. The hero that had All Might nervous and on the ropes... was just a senile grandpa that needed to be put in a home.  
  
As he pondered the best way to break this to All Might, since the hero seemed to think the best and greatest about Gran Torino, the train came to a very sudden stop, spilling all three out of their seats!  
  
"What's going on?" Izuku finally asked, as he managed to get back on his feet. The announcement was that something was happening in Hosu City. A quick check of Izuku's phone and he managed to get a live news feed. Strange monsters were attacking Hosu!  
  
"Egads, Izuku! Those look just like Mister Lipz from the theme park!" The Tick exclaimed, looking over the hero in training's shoulder. And he was right. They did look like a bunch of Noumu. He barely had time to put his phone away when the Tick grabbed both Izuku and Gran Torino!  
  
"You hear that? It's a cry for JUSTICE!" And with that, the Tick took the two of them out of the train and bounded for Hosu City! "This malignant monsters and their malicious masters are no match to our munificent magnificence!"

 

* * *

So this was it. Tenya Iida was going to die in this dirty, filthy alley. To hear Stain gloat about it, that was the absolute worst part about this. He was talking to Native, telling the pro hero about... honestly, Tenya didn't care. His body was frozen and Stain was waxing poetic about whatever perceived injustice that Native seemed to exacerbate just by existing.  
  
"Now then... what should we do with you?" Stain turned away from Native, the wound in his shoulder enough of a sharp lesson that the Hero Killer needn't have to kill him. "Honestly, you look familiar. It's in the face, but I can't seem to place it."  
  
"My brother... is Ingenium! You ripped his face open!" Tenya yelled at the monster wearing human skin. How could he not know?  
  
"Ah, yes... the hero that didn't smile. I suppose I fixed that for him, didn't I?" And yet, the hero killer frowned, looking at Tenya. "Though, a hero wouldn't go for revenge, wouldn't he? A personal vendetta isn't very heroic. And here I was, willing to just leave you be... but it looks like you need a lesson of you own!"  
  
Tenya could only imagine just what the Hero Killer would do to him. He couldn't... this wasn't how it was supposed to happen! He wasn't supposed to get caught by the Hero Killer... he had everything planned out to the most minute of details. But... it... the Hero Killer was faster then he thought... tougher then he thought and his quirk... whatever ability that the Hero Killer had to paralyze both him and Native... he still didn't understand it.  
  
"I get it. Don't get me wrong. I hurt your brother and now you want to hurt me..." The Hero Killer squatted down to look Tenya in the eye. "But you gotta think to yourself, is that really appropriate behavior for a hero? I'm sure you try to justify it because of all those people I killed and hurt and the like, but ask yourself this... if I didn't hurt your brother, would you be in Hosu City, in this alley, having this conversation?"  
  
Tenya couldn't reply, he didn't have one that would have been satisfying to both himself or perhaps the Hero Killer. And some dark part of himself, a part he wasn't proud of, admitted that if it wasn't for Stain's attack on his brother, then Tenya wouldn't be here, in this dark dirty alley being lectured on the nature of heroism but a maniac like Stain!  
  
"Now... what kind of lesson would do best for you?" The Hero Killer stood back up to his full height, brought his sword up high. "Why don't we start with an ear? Because you don't listen!"  
  
Tenya closed his eyes, waiting for the blade to come down!  
  
"Iida!" Someone had called his name... and something green had slammed into Stain.

* * *

The sight in Hosu was a horror show! Buildings were on fire! People were screaming! It was mass hysteria unlike any other! The monsters were beyond comprehension, as the Tick and Gran Torino looked upon the disaster in the making.  
  
"Looks like we have our work cut for us, Gran Torino! But it's NO MATTER! FOR WE ARE MIGHTY!" He didn't even wait for the elder hero to say anything, especially after Izuku had run off, saying he had saw something as the Tick carried them off into the city. This was almost too much...  
  
"SPOOOOOOON!" And the Tick leapt into the fray against a particular monstrous looking noumu, yes, that was the word that Izuku used to describe them. Out of the corner of his eyes, Gran Torino saw a blast of fire. Excellent, that would mean that the Flame Hero was here... and hopefully some sanity!  
  
As for the Tick? The Tick crashed into one of the monsters, a mighty blow that would launch a thousand ships, but yet... yet the monster ignored the blow!  
  
"Ah ha! Very similar to Mister Lipz, I see!" The Tick nodded. "BUT! I bet'cha I can throw ya!" With a mighty heave, the Tick lifted the monster above his head and tossed it away like yesterday's newspaper!  
  
"Huzzah! Truly I am MIGHTY! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"  
  
"Truly you are an idiot!" That voice... that voice wasn't one he had heard in a long time, not since the incident at the Comet Club. The Tick turned on his heel and saw the large man in the brown costume come out of the shadows... crimson shield in hand.  
  
"Why, if it isn't my good friend, Barry Hubris. How ya doin', Barry?" The Tick wasn't dumb, he knew how much the Scarlet Tick hated him, as he leaned back of the way of a blow... that probably wouldn't have hurt him, but the kinetic force manipulation that Barry was capable of was something he would need to keep in mind!  
  
"How am I doing? HOW AM I DOING!? You stole my whole identity!" He followed up with another attack, said kinetic force picking up debris in it's wake! The Tick for his part ignored the little things like the rocks and bits of concrete shattering against his mighty visage!  
  
"Listen, Barry... didn't we have this argument already, years ago? You wanted to be the only Tick around, we fought over it and you lost... besides, the Scarlet Tick works so well! You got that shield and everything!" The Tick was trying to deescalate the situation. This was different then his usual fights. Part of him was idly wondering what Barry was doing in Japan, and honestly, he needed to finish it and right quick so he could get back to fighting the monsters!  
  
Not dealing with something that was already solved! Who knew that the Scarlet Tick could hold such a grudge!?  
  
"Alright, Barry... if you wanna have another go at this, I suppose I'll have to make it quick!" And with that, he launched himself at the Scarlet Tick!

* * *

He barrelled into the Hero Killer like a cannonball. Tucking and rolling as he slammed into the psychopathic villain, and the two followed through to the wall. Izuku Midoirya was hoping against hope that he didn't see what he saw when the Tick carried the three of them into Hosu City, but when he showed up, there it was...  
  
Tenya Iida and Native... and the Hero Killer Stain. As soon as they touched the ground, he was running towards that Alley Way. He had to save Tenya Iida and the pro hero. Who knew what the Hero Killer was going to do? He was less murderous then before, according to the news, but that didn't mean anything! You couldn't guarantee that he wouldn't change his mind for whatever reason, because he was crazy!  
  
He rolled to his feet, quickly. He didn't want to get bogged down in a tangle with the Hero Killer.  
  
"What are you doing here, Midoriya?" That was Tenya, shouting at him for saving his life, possibly.  
  
"What does it look like, Iida?" He didn't mean to snap at the taller teen, but he had to worry about other things, as he channeled his power, looking over the Hero Killer. Cocoon to protect himself, Tension for increased speed, Full Cowl for strength.  
  
As soon as he figured out the Kansas City Shuffle, he figured out exactly how much he could use to keep himself from going crazy or getting hurt. 15% for each seemed to be the limit, 45% in total! He could do this! He would save Tenya and save Native and capture the Hero Killer!  
  
Speaking of which, the Hero killer was back on his feet, pointing his sword at Izuku. "Another brat? Here to save your friend? How heroic!" He snarled, as Izuku fell into a stance. "but I won't allow anyone to stop me! This whole rotten world needs a lesson it won't soon forget! And only I can give it!"  
  
Stain was a lot faster then Izuku gave him credit for, as the mad killer charged at the Hero in Training! But Tension did it's job, letting him jump to the side, his body seemingly reacting before he even thought about it. His body under Tension was something else. Something different, and he barely had any practice with it, but it managed to save his life!  
  
He was even able to palm his phone and let out a little message. If anyone in his class was also out in Hosu City, they should be able to get the message and hopefully help him get Tenya and Native out of this alley.  
  
And then he felt that sharp line on his cheek... a small line of blood oozing out... he was cut, so infinitely small but then... he felt his body freeze up and he fell over.  
  
"I gotta give you props kid, your were probably the hardest thing I ever had to cut through, but all it takes is a single drop!" He chuckled darkly as he gloated over the would be hero. "Do you know why I do these things, boy? Do you know why I killed fake heroes?"  
  
"Because you're crazy?" Izuku almost bit his own tongue after he spoke. That was the last thing he wanted to do, antagonize the Hero Killer. But here he was, quipping not unlike the Tick would if he was in his situation.  
  
Honestly, the Tick wouldn't be in such a situation, given his level of night invulnerability...  
  
"A rather small answer that misses the forest for the trees! The entirety of this society was filled with fake heroes! Fake heroes that wanted fame or fortune! Why should a hero take money for saving people? Why should they endorse some fast food chain?" He squatted down again, looking Izuku in the eyes. "Hero society is too commercial, too corrupted! It's why I exist... to remove such stains from the world. But you know what changed? Do you know why I only kill what I absolutely deem completely necessary?"  
  
"No, but I have feeling you're going to tell me..." He really needed to learn how to keep his mouth shut. Antagonizing the serial killer. The fact that he laughed didn't do much to make him feel better, and why should it? The man was insane!  
  
"It was a change in the air. When people started to actually help instead of waiting for those with power to come around and save them. When people stopped being bystanders and started to being heroes! When people rejected hero society and became vigilantes for no reason other then to help others! When people realized they were MIGHTY!" He rose to his feet. "I can't imagine someone young like you, in a program that feeds this corrupt society to understand." The Hero killer turned away from Izuku, going back towards Iida, but those words he used... the Hero Killer, Stain... was also inspired by the Tick? Was this the kind of world that he lived in when even a maniac like the Hero killer was inspired by the Wild Blue Yonder.  
  
"Now where was I? Ah, yes. Your ears... because you did not listen!"

* * *

It was supposed to be a simple patrol for Shoto Todoroki. Just go out with the Old Man, try not to get him mad, and then deal with whatever came their way.  
  
Simple.  
  
And then the monsters showed up, just like that big one from the the USJ incident that requires All Might to defeat, with judicious assistance form the Tick, of course. But here he was, fighting these monsters, with ice and fire. Honestly, he was never going to hear the end of it from his father if the old man saw him using his fire, but against monsters like these? You had to use every advantage you could get!  
  
He just wished he had better control over flames, perhaps being able to draw them off the buildings that were burning, but alas, that was not how his quirk worked at all.  
  
Still, Emergency Services were responding, his father's veritable army of sidekicks was helping where they could, and the Flame Hero was taking on the monsters along side, of all people, the Jet Hero: Gran Torino. he was certainly that Gran Torino was retired, but there he was in costume and fighting monsters and rescuing people.  
  
It was... much as he hated to admit, there was a reason why Endeavor was the number 2 hero, now if only his public life and his private life were more similar. He suppressed a shudder, he gave up a long time ago on his old man on being anything then how he was.  
  
There was a buzzing in his pocket. Someone had sent him a text message. He had a moment to check, pulling it out of his pocket. The message was simple. Help. And a geotag. A quick look of who sent it told him that it was Izuku Midoriya... and the geotag... was only a few yards way!  
  
He didn't even know that Izuku was in Hosu, but if he needed help...  
  
"Hey! Where are you going!" Oh, right, the sidekick that Endeavor assigned to babysit him.  
  
"Away. Why don't you go help the rest in pulling people from the burning buildings?" Shoto wasn't having any of this. He needed to ditch the sidekick.  
  
"If anything happens to you, Endeavor will kill me!" Shoto gave him a glare before turning to walk away. The sidekick complained a bit more, before heading off to help the rest of Endeavor's sidekicks in helping others. Finally.  
  
He hurried towards the alleyway that Izuku said he was in and what he saw was Tenya Iida, Izuku Midoriya, the pro hero Native... and the Hero Killer, Stain... about to bring his sword down on Tenya! Gloating about how he would not listen, so did not need his ears!  
  
Shoto wasn't going to have any of that and send a barrage of ice shardes towards the hero killer!  
  
The Hero Killer's reflexes were fasted then anticipated and his strengh greater then what Shoto realized, as he leapt out of the way of the shards, landing onto the fire escape, frowning as Shoto entered the scene!  
  
"Midoriya, Iida... looks like I came in right on time..." Looks like he did, as Tenya and Izuku slowly got back to their feet, whatever the nature of Stain's paralyzing quirk seemed to have some kind of limit.  
  
"Thanks, Todoroki. I knew someone else was going to be in Hosu City..." Izuku was happy for Shoto's assistance, but Tenya was actually frowning.  
  
"You two didn't need to come here! This is my fight and I had it well under control!" Tenya was actually livid.  
  
"Oh, yeah, it's not like Stain wasn't going to cut your ears off!" Izuku wasn't going to let Tenya yell at him for rescuing him! What kind of insanity was that?  
  
Their was a cough.  
  
"Children? Hi..." It was Stain... for a brief moment... they forgot about him. "Three on one doesn't seem very heroic!" And he gave a whistle! A green blur slammed into Shoto, and Tenya had to dodge blue flames! As Izuku had to deal with the Hero Killer himself!  
  
Cocoon didn't work well with sharp attacks like from a sword, so he had to improvise! 15% Fully Cowl, 30% Tension! Let's see if Stain could keep up!  
  
Shoto got a full look at his opponent as soon as he got back onto his feet, looking at the scaly skin and flat features of a Lizard. He had heard that Stain had picked up a lizardman apprentice... disciple? It didn't really matter. He knew enough from police reports he managed to read when his father didn't think he was looking.  
  
The weapon was a bit strange, looking like it was a few dozen smaller blades held together through some dark miracle, but the lizardman seemed more then capable of using the heavy, awkward weapon! He shoulder checked the fire and ice user, brought his weapon up, and only to be stop as the other one of Stain's maniacs grabbed him by the wrist.  
  
"What the hell, Dabi!?" The Lizard asked, turning to his compatriot, a man who had a real horror show of a body, black burns dominating his arms and face.  
  
"I'm not letting you kill Shoto, Spinner! We don't have to kill a bunch of students!" The villain... Dabi... knew his name. Spinner almost looked as surprised as Shoto did.  
  
"Stain said if he ever called us into battle like this, it was our own discretion! Besides, you wanted to kill his father! What's one more Todoroki!?" The two had a brief argument, allowing Tenya to recover, as Izuku kept bouncing from the walls of the alley, not giving Stain a good target to use his blades or knives or quirk on.  
  
"I suppose this is it, then." Tenya whispered, pulling the vial out of his pocket... the one he saved for the last few days... the one force multiplier that he alone had. Both Spinner and Dabi looked over to him as he downed it.  
  
"Is that what I think it was...?" Spinner managed to get the word off before they both watched the hero in training convulse and scream in pain as Trigger, the quirk enhancement drug rushed through his system, hyper evolving his quirk beyond the confines of his costume!  
  
He let out a roar as Engine managed to sprout out of his back, a new roaring V-8 brought to life as he charged Dabi and Spinner, his speed had never been faster! It took all of Dabi's instincts and all of Spinner's training to keep the newly empowered teen from taking them down. The blue flame quirk user leapt out of the way, the lizard man took hold of Shoto and dodged!  
  
That only left one target in the man teen's eyes.  
  
"STAIN!" And he charged the monster in the shape of a man! His alacrity was unmatched! And yet... somehow the hero killer remained just that much quicker! And with all of his new power, Tenya felt himself stop... felt everything still roaring and moving inside him... but once more he was paralyzed, a new wound on his shoulder!  
  
"My, my, my! I think I was wrong about you." With Izuku pinned to the wall with one of his swords, taking advantage of the shock everyone had when Tenya mutated, Stain shook his head. "Revenge and drugs. You're no hero at all. Dabi! REMOVE THIS FAKE!"  
  
Time seemed to freeze, as Tenya's eyes grew wide and the tornado of blue flames surrounded him, his screaming echoing through out the small alley as smoke filled the same area!  
  
Izuku had always said he ran out of tears to shed a long time ago, but here he was, witnessing the murder of one of his friends, he felt them flow freely. "TENYA!" His voice was harsh, hoarse, raw as he screamed that name, broke free of the pinning sword, and charged the gleefully cackling Stain.  
  
"YOU BASTARD!" He felt One for All enter his body and focus onto his fists, he slammed the first one into Stain's torso, then the next was a powerful upper cut that launched the hero into the air briefly, before he turned to face the two members of Stain's little cult.  
  
Spinner and Dabi tried to put up a good fight, but against the onslaught that was Izuku Midoriya, powered by the grief over the loss of a friend... it was too much. Especially as he focused directly on Tenya's murderer, the one that used blue flames. Eventually, Spinner, deciding that discretion was the better part of valor, grabbed Dabi and leapt away to the roof tops, before they scampered off.  
  
Izuku would have followed, had not the weight got to him. He fell to his knees and let out a mournful wail! They killed him... and there was nothing he could do about it! Shoto didn't know what else to do, but he looked over as the smoke cleared and put a hand on Izuku's shoulder.  
  
"Midoriya! Look!" And when Izuku turned to see what Shoto was pointing out... it was like a weight was removed from his shoulders. Iida Tenya ... was alive. Still standing, even as the hyper evolved quirk mutation melted off his body and he stumbled forward.  
  
"I... I saw my life flash before my eyes..." Tenya whispered harshly... to himself... to his comrades. "But... then... before the flames hit me... I felt nothing buy cold... Thank you Todoroki, for saving me..." He was on his feet and he felt weak, but he helped the pro hero Native and the two exited the alley way.  
  
"Midoriya... there's a problem." After a few minutes had passed, as the last two in the alley climbed to their feet.  
  
"I'm not sure what it could be... you saved Iida from burning to death." Izuku said, only to frown as he saw Shoto shake his head.  
  
"No... no I didn't. I didn't have enough time to ready my ice and I was distracted by the lizard, Spinner..." Shoto said, trying to figure out just what the hell happened.  
  
_Stain was defeated, but his two fanboys managed to get away. Between Endeavor and Gran Torino, the Noumu were defeated and captured, and Endeavor's army of Sidekicks made sure that people were pulled from burning buildings and rubble. Even the Tick said he had a little run in with a buddy of his from America, but as soon as the Noumu started dropping, said friend had to leave for parts unknown._  
  
_And all the while I couldn't help but think... who saved Tenya Iida, if not Shoto Todoroki?_


	39. Annual #3

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Annual #3  
  
**"The Trial of Tenya Iida!"**  
  
_'I AM MIGHTY! My hatred for this fallen society knows no bounds! I WILL CLEANSE IT OF IT'S STAINS! ALL THOSE OF WEAK IDEALS SHALL PERISH FROM THIS EARTH! This world has no place for fakers! Villain or hero! LET THE SONS OF STAIN RISE UP AND A SOCIETY WORTH LIVING IN!'_ The news feed cut out to the studio, as the anchor shuffled a few pages.

'That was the scene early this morning, at the Hosu Police department, as the Hero Killer Stain was brought in for processing...' The prattling of the news anchor seemed to fade as they focused on something else. Anything else. Tenya Iida realized that the lead up to this moment was a series of mistakes that seemed to culminate in his death.

He saw the flames approach him, a tornado of destruction that even enhanced by Trigger he couldn't avoid... the brief moment where his life seemed to pass before his eyes and then... nothing but cold.

He was sure... he was certain... that had Shoto Todoroki not been there, he would have died in that dirty alley, burned to cinders. He didn't know what to think... he was given a second chance at life! ... but... he didn't know where he would go from here. Where his life from here on out was going.

And that was when he was called into the conference room. On one side of the table... was the hero he was doing field training with... the Normal Herom Manual. Tenya shirked from his gaze, not able to me the eyes of the Pro Hero... a man he lied to for the entire week he was at the man's Agency.

But the fact that on the other side, was Shouta Aizawa... his home room teacher, arms crossed over his chest. Tenya gulped, not sure what was going to happen when his eyes settled on who was sitting in the middle, between the two pro-heroes.

... the principal of UA High School.

"Ah, Mister Iida. Please... have a seat." Principal Nedzu motioned to the one chair that wasn't occupied in the room. "Before we get started, Mister Iida, I would like to apologize. It appears that my school has failed you, and for that I am deeply sorry."

It was... Tenya didn't know what to think, didn't know what to say. Any of the things that he did... any one of those would get him expelled from the greatest hero school in Japan.

He didn't feel like a hero at all.

"We should have paid more attention. When you took Manual's offer for the field training, your slightly erratic to your behavior. All little things that no one noticed because surely Tenya Iida would not fall into such down ward spiral." Nedzu continued, as the other two pro heroes said nothing, just let the principal continue. "However, I believe I've reached the limit of my good will. And after discussing this with your field examiner... and with your homeroom teacher, we've come to a conclusion."

This was it... the sword of Damocles was coming crashing down upon him.

"You'll be given an automatic failue for this semester and will start the next in the General Education course. While Eraserhead argued for your expulsion, I think the best way to deal with issues like this is through compassion. If you can work hard, if you can clear the hurdles placed before, perhaps you'll be moved back to the Hero track. Nothing is insurmountable." Nedzu finished, steepling his paws together.

"And maybe pigs will decide to fly..." Was Aizawa's blunt dismissal of Tenya's punishment.

"I hope you appreciate this, Tenya. The principal is well within his rights to expel you. And that would ruin your chances of being a hero, period." Expelled from UA, for what he did... there would not a be a single hero course that would accept him, period.

Would he be able to live a life of such mediocrity, being so powerful and so strong but unable to do anything, to help anyone.

"But my curiosity has been peaked, Mister Iida... please, could you hold up a hand." The principal asked, motioning for Tenya to do so. The youngest person in the room gulped. He wasn't sure what Nedzu was asking, but he did so, holding is right hand over the table and... why wouldn't it stop shaking? He tried to form a tight fist, but that only made the shaking worse!

"I see... Mister Iida, could you stick out your tongue?" The principal smiled in the way only a small fuzzy animal could. Tenya did so, and the reaction from his teacher was... what he had expected. Aizawa never seemed more dismissive of him. 

"Tenya! ... what are you thinking!" Tenya's tongue... was black as jet. A sign of Trigger use. Heavy Trigger used. "Do you have any idea what does to you?"

"It was supposed to give me the strength to fight Stain!" Some part of the younger Iida realized that his outburst was inappropriate. That he shouldn't have snapped. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, so to his growing horror, he found himself continuing. "Do you know what it was like? My brother is still unresponsive and no one is doing anything about that monster! No one wanted to do anything. Everyone was willing to just let Stain stand where he was, let him hunt, let him kill, let him hurt others!"

"And you thought that you would revenge for your brother? No one asked you to take this upon yourself. What would your brother think? What would your parents think?" He had only known Manual for a few days, but he hear the disappointment in the pro hero's voice, and Tenya had never felt so small, thinking about what Manual had said.

"I think I can understand what Mister Iida was thinking. Stain defeated Ingenium quite easily, so he thought he needed a force multiplier. The easiest to come about... is Trigger. I'm sure he had his thoughts about it, didn't you Mister Iida?" The younger Iida tried to avoid the gaze of the principal... of the two pro heroes.

"... I did... it was only... I thought I only needed one dose... that's all that was needed to over power Stain..." He looked down. He couldn't believe he felt his confession freely spilled form himself. "But then I realized that it wouldn't do much good if I didn't know what it did if I took it..."

"So you experimented. First it was one dose, so you knew what to expect. Then a second dose because you wanted to be sure. Then you took it so you could practice." The principal was picking Tenya apart with the greatest of ease. Every single justification, every single lie he told himself. The last one was going to be the last one, it wasn't worth it.

But it kept happening. He kept buying. He kept dosing. And when he finally faced Stain, when he had the force multiplier... he was too high to think straight and whatever speed he had was useless against Stain's disciple.

"Yes... I can see we have our work cut out for you. Now, Mister Iida... I like to think that everyone deserves a second chance. Your second chance is going to require a lot. Remedial hero courses, for one... typically not a subject offered at UA, but this is a special case. As well as counseling... the fact is, you were hurting and no one noticed. A community fails when it can not sense that one of it's own is in pain." There was a brief pause. A second chance? A whole semester to prove that he truly was a hero. He would not let them down this time!

"I disagree with the principal." Aizawa started, looking at Tenya. "If it was up to me, I would have thrown you out of UA so fast you'd get road rash. But Principal Nedzu is a forgiving type. I find myself more pragmatic, logical. While another powerful hero is good, I refuse to compromise my own morals to get it" The Erasure Hero stood up and went to leave the room. "My advice? Leave UA before you embarrass yourself any more. You may be fast, but ice skating up hill is no easy task."

Tenya let the words settle on him, like a heavy blanket. It felt... it was useless, wasn't it? He'd prove that he wasn't a hero, unlike his compatriots and comrades that time and time again a hero through and through, where as Tenya Iida was nothing more then a rules abiding humorless boor that turned to drugs at the first sign adversity.

Eraserhead was right. Stain was right. He was nothing more then a fake.

"Hmmm... as if Aizawa knows anything! Don't worry, Tenya, I believe in you. And I'm sure your brother does as well! I have no doubt, none at all, that if you do this... you'll be back in the hero course before your classmates miss you!" Manual was right. His brother did believe in him! He could do this... he could make his family proud, do right by his brother!

He would not fail Tensei again! He turned to the principal.

"Thank you, sir! I shall prove myself worthy of the hero course!" A fire was alight in his belly! If this was how he would pay for his sins, then let his atonement begin!

Unknown to those present in the police station, a young hero's eyes snapped open at the Hose City hospital!


	40. Issue 36

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA Issue 36  
  
_I had a mystery on my hands. If Shoto didn't rescue Tenya, then who did? No one else in that alley could use ice, except Shoto Todoroki, but... he said he was too busy fighting Spinner, the lizard follower of Stain. I'm inclined to believe him, but... someone had to save Tenya in that alley way... but who?_  
  
Izuku Midoriya had spent two of the last three days in a hospital, his left arm bandaged and in a sling. The fight with Stain and his... followers had left him beaten, especially after he stopped using Cocoon to protect himself. The one single day was spent convincing his mother that he still wanted to be a hero and was still going to go to UA.  
  
He didn't want to say the macho thing, that pain didn't hurt, because it did. Oh, did it hurt. He must had spent twenty minutes lying in bed that morning, staring at the cieling and not wanting to get out of bed, but knowing that he would have to, he would have to grin and bear it because that's what heroes did.  
  
He was still a few minutes early, despite the fact that he spent as long as he did in bed and was slumped against the school gates.  
  
"Izuku! What... what the hell happened to you?" Oh, right... he barely had any time to talk with Mei at all during the field training. She didn't have a clue of the hell he went through with Gran Torino... or the fight with the Hero Killer. He looked up to her, giving a smile, because that's what heroes did!  
  
"Field training. It was... kinda brutal." Izuku laughed a bit, before groaning. His shoulder was bothering him, but that was to be expected what with the fact that a sword was shoved through it not three days ago.  
  
"... brutal? You look like you've been put through a blender!" Mei shouted at him. That wasn't... eactly untrue, he did get into a fight with the Hero Killer. He was asked not to mention it, the police in Hosu City couldn't have a bunch of students dealing with a villain they couldn't catch. And the whole not being able to use their quirks, even to defend themselves.  
  
Which was just about the dumbest thing he had ever heard. He really needed to brush up on his quirk usage law, having been formerly quirkless, he never really gave it much thought before. But... he was close with Mei. He could tell her, couldn't he? But that would make her worry.  
  
"Gran Torino was really strict on teaching me how to dodge." He winced a bit, remembering the pitching machine. It was such a dumb idea and he wondered where the elder hero got such an idea. Trying to dodge 90+ MPH baseballs didn't sound like much, but those things hurt when they hit and he was lucking that he managed to not have any of his bones broken!  
  
Well, any more then he already at this point. He could only imagine how bad he would have been if it did take the whole 10 months to clear up Dagobah beach and he didn't have 3 months to practice with One for All. He suppressed a shudder.  
  
"Gran Torino? The Jet Hero? That small old guy in the Hero Fighter series?" Mei wasn't as much of a hero otaku as Izuku was, but then again, who was? But even she knew who Gran Torino was.  
  
"Uh... yeah. Apparently he wasn't always so short and he actually worked with the Superian! He fought the Terror! It was actually pretty exciting hearing him talk about that! Did you know that he once raced Caped Wonder!?" He was trailing off and he was excited about the Jet Hero! He spotted Mei and the small frown on her cute face. "... I'm going on a tangent, aren't I?"  
  
"Just a bit. So this elderly hero beat the tar out of you for a week and your happy about it because he told you stories like the world's greatest grandpa?" Izuku thought about it and didn't think he'd call Gran Torino that world's greatest grandpa, but Mei did get the gist of it.  
  
"Well, I mean, it did make up for all the physical near torture he put me through trying to teach me how to dodge." He felt bad about lying to her, but he wasn't about to tell her that he fought Stain. His mother didn't know that he fought Stain, just that he got caught up the monster invasion but it was okay, his field examiner was with him the entire time.  
  
That was the truth. It was only a lie by omission. Those didn't count, right? All Might didn't tell anyone that he was only capable of maintaining his hero form only a few hours each day, that too was a lie of omission. No, no, he shouldn't try to rationalize terrible behavior, even if it was to protect himself from being in real trouble.  
  
"Why did he feel that you needed to learn how to dodge? You're in the hero course. Don't they teach you how to fight?" Mei asked. She was right, in a way. Yes, the hero course was supposed to teach certain tactics and techniques, but there were too many students to teach anything more then the bare basics to everyone.  
  
"There are some things we need to learn on our own." He could count on one hand the amount of students in 1-A that didn't have some kind of martial training before coming to UA. And to his detriment, he was one of them. Those same 3 months of trying to master One for All, he didn't have time to learn how to fight. It was more important that he didn't explode when he used it.  
  
"So one of the many things you have to learn on your own is how not to get your butt whupped when you get into a fight with supervillain?" It sounded really dumb when it was someone that wasn't a pro hero or a teacher saying it. "I mean, I get it. There's 40 students on the Hero Course and only two home room teachers, but surely one of your study halls during the week could turn into a martial arts class so you're not woefully inept..."  
  
"Just merely bad? I heard that line before." Izuku gave a chuckle, and offered a hand to Mei. "C'mon, help me up." Soon enough, he was back on his feet but a single step forward and their bodies pressed together, leaving the two blushing as Izuku stammered out an apology!  
  
"Stop being a dork, Izuku!" Mei said, putting her hands on his chest and pushing him against the wall. "We're dating. You should be used to me being this close already." She did get in really close herself. "Then again, I think the way you get all nervous is kind of cute and endearing." She kissed his cheek.  
  
"Anyway, I gotta get to the Design Studio. I got ideas, Izuku! Ideas that will change the world!" She scampered off. It was just the same, Izuku should get to his class as well. On time is late, after all. He was a bit shocked, though, when he managed to get into class. There were a few students already milling about, Eijiro was talking with Mina and Katsuki, the ash blonde helping the other with some sort of make up work they got from another teacher.  
  
But there was one person that was missing from the classroom that was surprising to Izuku. Where was Tenya Iida? He did get the worst of all three of them in that fight with Stain, but he didn't expect him to just not show up to school. He flipped open his phone, to see if he could ask when he noticed the group chat only had 19 members and a message from a few days ago in the middle of the night.  
  
_Tenya Iida has left the chat_  
  
Something wasn't right... Tenya wouldn't have said nothing if something was wron, would he? This... nothing was making sense, and none of his classmates knew what was happening. He conferred with his Vice President, just to be sure.  
  
"... what do you mean he left the chat?" Momo asked, as she too brought out her phone and noticed the same. "... how did no one see this?" It was buried under a list of who was coming online and going offline. It was like Tenya waited for the right moment to leave the chat.  
  
Izuku would have said more, but the bell rung and soon Aizawa-sensei came in. He looked over the class, 19 students, 1 empty desk.  
  
"I'm sure you've noticed that one of your classmates is missing." Aizawa started to speak to the class. "Unfortunately, due to his choices, Tenya Iida is no longer in 1-A. That is all." The class turned into a roar of gossiping. This wa sthe first anyone had heard of this. But Izuku, he knew what had happened.  
  
Tenya Iida was being punished for going after Stain. And everything else he did in that Alley. One of his friends... had made use of Trigger. He had enough expierence with people that used it, thinking it would give them an edge, but all it did was make them sloppy. Sure, the power boost was amazing, but in the end... what good was it when if you couldn't bring that power to bare?  
  
"That's enough! If you want to know what Iida did, you can ask him yourself! It's more important, right now, for you to focus on yourselves, especially with Finals coming up!" End of semester was right around the corner. Meaning summer vacation. Or as much of a summer vacation as they were going to get. He over heard Second Year hero students mentioning something about a summer camp that they went to, and Izuku could only imagine that the summer break was used as a way to shore up any deficiencies the students had.  
  
It was still on his mind. The upcoming school trip. Tenya Iida's removal from the hero course. And, of course, what had actually happened in that alley back in Hosu City. Three days later and it was still bothering him.  
  
"Geeze, you think you know a guy. Iida always seemed like he had a stick shoved up where the sun don't shine and the fact that he's the one that washed out of the hero course." Minoru clicked his tongue, walking alongside Denki just behind Izuku on their way to the cafeteria.  
  
"Yeah... I thought for sure it was going to be me or you..." Denki replied.  
  
"Me?! Why the hell would I get thrown out of the hero course? I'm a great student!" He was shocked, aghast! He was a model student! He got good grades!  
  
"Well, when we first met, you were kind of a perv?" Minoru opened his mount to rebut Denki, but then closed it. Opened it again, then closed it again.  
  
"I don't have to dignify that with a response!" He huffed, crossing his arms and trying to look cool and failing miserably.  
  
"Don't worry, Mineta. You're way better then you were at the start of the school year. I haven't felt the need to hit you since before the Sports Festival."  
  
"Gee, thanks Uraraka for the vote of confidence."  
  
_It was weird, how everyone was still acting like this was normal. I suppose it was, Hero Courses were some of the most challenging high school tracks, period. And UA was the best school in the nation! But the fact that it was Tenya Iida that was removed from the course, there had to be something else. Something that I was missing. Something that Aizawa-sensei wasn't telling us for some reason or anotherf. Hopefully, I would get a chance to ask Tenya at lunch._  
  
Or maybe he'd just avoid us.


	41. Issue 37

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue 37

_This was it. The cafeteria. The first time all day that any of us had seen Tenya Iida. And I was going to ask him just what was going on! I know I wasn't the only one that wanted answers from Tenya, and I was going to get them._

Izuku saw Shoto approach as well, and a quick nod and they had a plan figured out, as Izuku sat on Tenya's right, Shoto on his left. "Hey, you got a moment, Iida?" Izuku asked, putting a hand on Tenya's shoulder before he moved to get up.

"That was pretty clever, leaving the chat when no one was up and if they were, wouldn't be paying attention." Shoto said, as the two got into their interrogation pattern. They saw the taller teen close his eyes.

"Midoriya, Todoroki... if you were really my friends, you would not be questioning my decision." He was whisper quiet and it looked like he hadn't been sleeping well. Of course he hadn't, but he looked even worse then ever.

"But was it your decision? Iida... Tenya, look at me." Izuku said, as his friend did so. He got good at reading micro expressions, especially early on when he had to make sure his mother was still on the straight and narrow. The tight pinch around the eyes, the cold sweat, slight tremors on his neck.

"... that wasn't the first time you took Trigger, was it?" He couldn't believe he didn't see the signs, the build up of Tenya's desperation. He was his friend, he should have noticed. He should've seen it.

"I don't have to answer that." Not answering was all the answer that Izuku needed. It was just like dealing with his mother in the bad ol' days.

"So what was it? The rush? The adrenaline kick as you feel your quirk mutate? Or was it the power that surged through you as the power increase hit you?" Izuku asked... he didn't want to sound cruel, but sometimes, you had to be cruel to be kind. A reaction was more important then being polite!

Oh, and what a reaction he got! Tenya Iida was VERY fast, and Izuku Midoriya found himself off his seat, held against a wall, his speedy friend clenching his jaw and trembling.

"WHAT DO YOU KNOW, MIDORIYA!?" He shouted, his rage boiling over, holding the shorter boy against the wall. All conversation seemed to stop, everyone turning to the confrontation. Shoto approached, but Izuku held up a hand, telling him to stay put.

"I know I failed you as a friend, Tenya. I should've paid more attention. I should've done a lot of things. And I'm sorry for that." Izuku apologized to the teen holding him against the wall. He was still trembling, before he backed off and broke down crying, heaving sobs as he held onto Izuku.

For all his faults, and he knew there were many in him, Izuku let the other boy cry, before helping him to his feet and bringing him back to the table they were sitting at. "You feel better, Tenya?" He asked the speedster. He wasn't surprised when he shook his head.

"I... my mother asked me to leave the house two days ago." Tenya finally spoke, after he calmed down. "They... she said they were not supporting me until I cleaned up. Until I could prove to them that I had what it took to be a hero."

"... where are you staying in the mean time, then?" Izuku always figured that the Iida's were old fashioned and what Tenya did would cause them to lose face, but they were going about it entirely the wrong way.

" With my brother, Tensei. He's been awake the last few days and was released from the hospital yesterday. I... all I ever wanted to do was make my family proud. And I've done the exact opposite of that." He put his head in his hands. "I don't know what to do!"

"Tenya, I want you to look at me." Izuku stated, waiting for the other to do so. "You do what you always did. You come to school on time, you do your work, and you proceed to show everyone that you do have what it takes to be a hero. One step at a time, day by day."

"I wish it was that easy... I... I haven't been sleeping very well. I lie in bed, staring at the ceiling in a cold sweat and all I can think of..."

"Is taking more Trigger?" Izuku asked, watching as Tenya shuddered.

"It's all I've wanted for the last four days. I'm trembling all over, I've had problems thinking, and I can barely eat." Tenya was crying again, not heaving sobs, but tears were leaving his eyes.

"It's because you're going through withdrawal." He pulled out his wallet and handed a crisp business card. "That's my mother's business card. She's a social worker and one of her specialties is dealing with addictions. But you have to understand, Tenya, the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step, and the first step to solving any problem is admitting that such a problem exists." Tenya stared at the business card, his eyes looking over to the green haired teen.

"Why are you doing this, Izuku? Helping me like this."

"Because you're my friend, Tenya." He paused for a moment. "Do you hear what I said to Katsuki during the final round with him at the Sports Festival?" Tenya had, and he nodded.

"You said you would always save him, even from himself if need be."

"Exactly. And it looks like I have to save you from yourself, now. You have to stop beating yourself up. You took a hell of a fall, but now it's time to stand up. And I'm offering a hand, so take it and let me help you." He offered his hand and... Tenya took it, the two shaking.

"How do you do it...?" Tenya asked. How could one person be so kind and so understanding?

"I got a strong back, helps me carry the weight of the world." Izuku said, shrugging. Tenya, for the first time in what felt like years to him, let out a laugh, before going to join the rest of their friends at their usual table. Izuku turned to Shoto.

"Do you want to join us, Todoroki?" He turned to the ice and flame user, who was looking dumbfounded.

"Are you for real, Midoriya?"

"I... what?"

"I wasn't sure that people like you actually existed." Shoto was really taken aback by everything that just happened. "You're literally an all loving hero, aren't you? So understanding and able to see the good everywhere. You're like a unicorn."

"Is... is that a bad thing...?" Izuku asked, feeling a bit of relief as Shoto shook his head.

"No, no it's not. It's just... very different. Thank you for the invite, but no. I usually have lunch with Yaoyozoru. Speaking of which..." He stood up and headed to Momo and Kyoka. With a shrug, Izuku went over to join the rest of his friends. Ochako was blushing, even more then she usually did. Denki and Minoru looked gobsmacked for some reason. Tenya and Itsuka looked confused. Mei looked amused. And Hitoshi... was no where to be found. Izuku sighed.

"Okay, what did I miss?" Izuku asked. It looked like whatever it was, was huge as Minoru turned to him.

"Just the mother of all drama bombs!"

"Guys... it's not that bad, is it?"

"Uraraka, you decided that admitting you had a crush on another girl in the prescence of UA's fresmanclass' two biggest perverts was a good idea." Mei said, pointing to Denki and Minoru.

"Hey! I haven't done anything super perverted at school for weeks now!"

"Yeah!"

Izuku sighed. This was literally high school tier gossip and he really didn't care.

"It isn't a big deal, Uraraka. If that's how you feel, then it's how you feel. Have you told her yet?" Izuku asked, as Ochako sank lower and blushed heavily.

"N-n-no..." She mumbled. "But... I... maybe it's just a crush! I had a crush on you as well, Midoriya! Maybe... maybe it just transferred to her..." Ochako tried to justify, well, everything.

"It's Pony, isn't it?" Itsuka finally said, nodding. It all made sense, really. They were hanging out. They were doing a lot of things together. Denki saw the two of them holding hands. And most importantly, Ochako gave a yelp when Itsuka said it was Pony.

"I... but... who told you?" She was blushing madly. She thought she was just telling her friends about a crush she was dealing with. Pony was such a sweet, affectionate girl and practically her best friend since they started hanging out and...!

"Oh, wow... is that how I sound like when I mutter?" Izuku interrupted the gravity girl's train of thought. She said that all out loud!?

"Pony told me, of course. She asked me what to do if she liked someone and if they were a girl and I put two and two together." Itsuka said, nodding once.

"Sh... she likes me, too?" That changed everything! She stood up a bit too quickly, almost losing her balance, and looked at the group. "Excuse me, I have to go!" And she rushed off like a pack of demons were on her trail.

"It's always the ones you never suspect." Minoru said, nodding sagely.

"Agreed." Denki said, nodding as well.

"Oh, come off it you too!" Mei slapped them both upside the head. "Stop being stupid." She continued to berate them, as Itsuka looked over to Izuku.

"Speaking of ones you never suspect, I finally got Monoma to actually admit why he doesn't like you." Oh! That was good news, but the way she worded it... "He told me, and I quote: That green haired do-gooder is always on my mind, Kendo! Oh, he fills me with rage! And a bunch of other emotions that are weird and deeply confusing to me."

"... oh... what joy you share with me, Kendo." He much rather have Neito Monoma as a rival then an admirer.

"Oh? What's this? Do I suddenly have competition for Izuku's affections?" Mei asked, finishing her little lesson to Denki and Minoru. Izuku shook his head so fast he got a small head ache.

"You most certainly do not!" Not that there was anything wrong with that, but he certainly wasn't used to telling people he wasn't interested in them, let alone another guy.

_Why were villain fights so much easier then high school anything? Was it too late to go fight Stain again? At least then things sort of made sense. But this? None of this made any sense at all! At least I got through to Tenya, that was really the important part._


	42. Issue 38

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue 38  
  
Hitoshi Shinso... was somewhat giddy! And why wouldn't he be? Why shouldn't he be? He spent a week training with not one, but TWO professional heroes! And then Aizawa-sensei all but guaranteed that he'd be promoted to the hero course for the next semester!  
  
... who wouldn't be happy?  
  
And that was why he was headed to the on campus Design Studio. He had spent all night designing new costumes and a cool hero name! The Mindbender! Master of the Human Psyche! It gave him chills how cool that sounded! The only issue... is that he knew that there was one person at the Design Studio he wanted to avoid and it was the exact person that greeted you.  
  
"Ah ha! Shinso! Come in, come in!" Mei Hatsume... the only Support Course student he knew. Still, he was not going to let this ruin his good mood. "You kept us busy, all week, Shinso! Half the class had a mental break down, it was great."  
  
Wait... he kept them busy...?  
  
"What...? I didn't... what are you talking about, Hatsume?" Hitoshi was flabbergasted! Was he being pranked.  
  
"Yeah. Busy as hell." She turned down the hall and shouted. "MINION!" There was a sigh from down the hall and a giant light bulb stuck out of one of the doors.  
  
"You know I a name, Hatsume!" Said light bulb strobed when it spoke.  
  
"And as soon as you prove yourself to be important, I'll start remembering it! Now get over here! The one that lead to your promotion arrived!" Promotion to Mei Hatsume's head minion. That poor bastard. Now that he came out, Shinso could see that the poor kid had a lightbulb for a head, the filaments forming what looked like eyes, but with the way quirks worked, could have been anything.  
  
"C'mon... let's go see this work of art you asked us to make." He motioned for Hitoshi to follow him, as Mei was in lock step behind her minion. He only followed because he was... curious.  
  
"Behold! Mr. Quiz!" Lightbulb boy, who had introduced himself properly on the way as the unfortunately named Edison Hakanetsu. 'My parents thought of themselves as being clever. They clearly were not.' Still, they showed him a manequin, wearing the gaudiest, shiny purple tuxedo Hitoshi had ever seen.  
  
"... what the hell is this?" Hitoshi was almost beside himself. This was the exact opposite of what he wanted to be.  
  
"This is the costume the Support Department was asked to make for one Hitoshi Shinso. Everything was signed off, the design, everything!" The boy was gesticulating wildly, his light bulb head strobing intensely.  
  
"Signed off?" Hitoshi never signed off on anything! Until all the information was placed in front of him. The whole costume, the hero name, everything... was signed off by Emi Fukukado, Ms. Joke.  
  
... also Shouta Aizawa, but... wait...  
  
"... she forged his signature!" Hitoshi exclaimed! How could no one see this!? A class full of geniuses and no one thought to look!  
  
"Doesn't matter, Shinso! This... everything about this... it was maddening!" Mei stated, gesticulating at the ABOMINATION that was standing before him. "Everything is engineered to perfection! The cloth of the jacket is puncture resistant ballistic weave, and it's smart! It'll harden to deflect blunt force away from you!"  
  
"More important is the pants. This style and cut of this particular pair is based on a design by the illustrious Doctor Strangepants! This pair of pants sent a Support student to the nurse's office!" They just looked like a pair of pants to Hitoshi, nothing special.  
  
"What's so special about that?" The two support students looked at him like he had a second head growing from his neck.  
  
"Shinso, these pants were designed by the renowned Doctor Strangepants. The fact that Ms. Joke managed to get us these plans...!" Mei didn't even know where to start! How could someone be so small minded? "These pants are probably the greatest pair of pants that have ever passed through the halls of the Design Studio! Not only are they made out of the same fabric as the jacket, the design incorporates an inter-skeleton!"  
  
... none of those words made any damn sense at all!  
  
"What does any of that mean, Hatsume!?" He was starting to lose his temper. His dream of being a hero was slowly turning into a nightmare!  
  
"It means that if you go and kick someone, for example, you'll send them flying into the wall!" Oh... that would... that didn't sound so bad.  
  
"It's more then just that. The pants include parasitic power generator. Just by walking, you'll charge all the equipment contained in the vest." Equipment? In the vest? Just...  
  
"What's this about a vest?"  
  
"A waistcoat, actually. In it you'll find several pieces of other support gear. Vital monitors, communications, even making sure the smart fiber works as intended. But most importantly, it includes the hardware matrix to run the bow tie." The bulb headed support student wasn't having any of this. "The bow tie, before you ask, is at it's base a throat mic projector. You'll be able to throw your voice several yards with this. And! With the hardware in the waistcoat, you can, via the watch..." He pointed to a just as gaudy purple watch. "You'll be able to raise and lower your pitch and mimic other people's voices. How does your quirk work, Shinso?"  
  
He thought about it. Then thought about it some more. He wasn't crazy with the name that Ms Joke picked for him, nor the costume itself... but on the other hand...  
  
He couldn't help but smile!  
  
_It had been a long time since I put on the Aphid costume. At least since before the Sports Festival. But I needed something... light. Something that wouldn't be too rough and exhausting, mentally or emotionally._  
  
"You look down, Chum. Something got your noggin joggin'?" The Tick could always figure out when Izuku wasn't in the best of moods.  
  
"It's complicated. One of my class mates he..." He didn't know how to explain the situation Iida was in. "He made a mistake and he's being punished for it and... and I don't it's entirely fair. I mean, I know why they did it, but... people do dumb things all the time, especially when they're hurting."  
  
He sighed, taking a seat on the roofs ledge.  
  
"Mostly... I'm mad at myself for not seeing the signs that I'm quite familiar with..." He put his head in his hands. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring this night down..."  
  
"Hey, don't be such a gloomy gus! You're a compassionate guy, Izuku! You see someone hurting, and it hurts you! That's a mark of a hero, right there!" The Tick seemed to have a talent for saying the most outrageous, wild statements... that made everything feel alright.  
  
Izuku nodded. "Thanks, Tick." He was starting to feel better when his phone pinged. The Police scanner app on his phone picked up a call! "Hey, looks like we got a live one, nearby! Kamui Woods and Mt. Lady are already en route to the scene. Should we go give them a hand?"  
  
"You already know my answer, m'boy!" He leapt off the roof, his battle cry on his lips!  
  
"SPOOOOOOON!"  
  
With Izuku soon following, the two masked vigilantes met up with the pro-heroes.  
  
"Well, if it isn't our good chums Tree Man and Gigantigal!" The two pro heroes looked over to Aphid who just shrugged. "Enough about that, what's going on?"  
  
It was Mt. Lady that eventually spoke up after a moment of awkward silence.  
  
"The two of us had been working on this case for some time. There's a counterfeit ring operating in this area and they're huge. We had our first major blow to their operation a few weeks ago, but... they quickly retaliated." The size changing blonde said to the two new comers.  
  
"Retaliated? How?" Aphid asked, noticing briefly that Mt. Lady blushed as Kamui Woods sputtered. Probably wasn't something he wanted to know.  
  
"The only problem is that everything we know about this ring is completely useless. As far as we know, this is the guy the hired help collect material from and kick back to." It was the police sketch from weeks ago, after interviews with the ne'er-do-wells from the first bust.  
  
"Hey! I know that guy!" Tick exclaimed, grabbing the sketch.  
  
"Well, yeah, it's..."  
  
"The Guy Who Looks Just Like Peter Lorre!"  
  
Wait...  
  
"Are you saying you actually know who that is?" Could this be the first break in weeks on this case?  
  
"Sure do, Pal! The Guy Who Looks Just Like Peter Lorre is a confederate to that most notorious of super criminals and my arch-nemesis! Chairface Chippendale!" The Tick seemed to have a lot of arch-nemesis' from what Izuku could gather by the way the man talked. Chairface. The Breadmaster. El Seed. A few others he could go on and on about.  
  
As for Mt. Lady and Kamui Woods... they finally had a name they could put to the leadership of this criminal enterprise!  
  
And then watched completely flabbergasted as the Tick launched himself at the warehouse, without word or warning.  
  
Aphid, for his part shrugged. "He does that a lot. You get used to it." They had to rush to join him.  
  
"Well, well, well, eef it eesn't the Teeck! And campanee!" ... well, he certainly lived up to his name and looked just like Peter Lorre. Sounded like him too! "But none of this matters! DEAN!"  
  
And that was when a new comer smashed through a wall. As big as two vending machines, next to each other. Taller then the Tick!  
  
... and had a wing nut for a head.  
  
"What the hell is that?" Kamui Woods exclaimed, having never seen anything like that before!  
  
"The Wingnut Strangler!" The Tick cried out. "Take a step aside, comrades! This looks like a job... for the TICK!" As he launched himself at the be-suited... whatever the hell that thing was!  
  
Dean, as The Guy Who Looks Just Like Peter Lorre had called him, yelled a wordless shout, grabbing the Tick's outstretched arm and tossing him like a rag doll, before charging at the other heroes! It took instincts honed by hours of training, hours of lived experience, and just the will to live for the three others to dodge, jumping away from the mad... whatever the hell that thing was.  
  
It reminded Aphid of the first Noumu they fought back as the USJ incident! But now all four were separated and the toughs got the drop on them!  
  
"C'mon, Dean!" The Guy Who Looks Just Like Peter Lorre called out from his getaway van, the monstrous villain bounding over and hoping in the back before the vehicle sped up, the heroes distracted by gun fire! With the boss gone, the hired thugs and toughs cut and ran, no job worth a beat down from two professional heroes, a vigilante, and his side kick.  
  
Mt. Lady screamed, slamming her fist into a wall. "We almost had him!" She was visibly upset. Kamui Woods, not so much.  
  
"There's always next time, but... we're learning more about this counterfeiting ring each time we face them. This was the first time we even saw the boss!" Kamui Woods made a good point, they did in fact meet the boss the first time. But with the knowledge that Mustafu's Mad Vigilante...  
  
"Tick..." Kamui Woods started, as the Wild Blue Yonder finally stepped back in. "You said that the..." He sighed. It was almost too silly. "Guy Who Looks Just Like Peter Lorre works for someone else...?"  
  
"More like works with something else, pal! Far as I know, the Guy Who Looks Just Like Peter Lorre is a colleague of Chairface Chippendale. At least he was at his birthday bash a couple of years ago." He paused for a moment. "Then again, he did have Dean, the Butterfly Nutcase with him..."  
  
"I thought you called him the Wingnut Strangler...?" Aphid asked. Then thought better of it. "And what the hell was that thing?"  
  
"What? Dean? I'm not entirely sure. The Guy Who Looks Just Like Peter Lorre said he was the greatest creation. And he's strong enough to crush diamonds in his hands!" Well, as far as Aphid was concerned, the Tick was almost that strong.  
  
"I'm reminded of the League's Noumu." Aphid said, softly. That type of strength and power... to think that something other then the League of Villains was capable of making monsters like that... it gave him the chills.  
  
"What? Pffft... Dean is nothing like Mister Lipz. For one thing, I don't even think Mister Lipz could yell!" The Tick was interrupted from his revelry of that time he and All Might took on the Noumu by the two professional heroes.  
  
"Hey, nice as it was to have to two of you help..." Not that Aphid thought they did much, looks like whatever case Mt. Lady and Kamui Woods was broken wide open by the revelations the Tick shared with them about the nature of... whatever the hell was going on here. "But the police are arriving soon. It wouldn't do anyone any good if the a pair of vigilantes were caught up in this."  
  
Sound advice, that the two soon took, bounding away.  
  
_The rest of that night was a typical outing with the Tick. Muggers, purse snatchers, and the like. But... tonight showed me something, I think. How those two pro heroes accepted the Tick's help and even looked out for him. He was being accepted by the Hero Community at large. It also showed me that... there was still plenty that I didn't know about the Tick, even though the Tick practically knew everything about me._  
  
Tenya Iida drummed his fingers against the table of the diner he was sitting at, unsure what he was to do. "I... I never done anything like this, I don't know where to start." He had called Inko Midoriya, just as Izuku said he should and here he was, talking with the woman.  
  
"Just talking would be a start." The jade haired woman replied. Both of them had a cup of coffee in front of them. "You have to understand Tenya, while we make these choices to do these things... it's also our choice to stop."  
  
"You make it sound so easy, but..."  
  
"It's never easy, Tenya. Nothing worth doing is easy. But you have to find something that's more important to you." Inko looked over Tenya, thinking for a moment. "How well do you and Izuku know each other?"  
  
"I'm not sure I understand the question?" He had to think. Izuku didn't talk much about his home life, just that he wanted to be a hero more then anything, and time and time again, he proved that he was hero material.  
  
Better material then Tenya was, it seemed.  
  
"It's complicated. It's a dark time in our family. Izuku's father, my husband... he died when Izuku was very young. Izuku didn't take it very well... and neither did I, to be honest." Tenya didn't know that about his friend. But he was wondering where this was heading?  
  
"Izuku... went inward, closing himself off from... everyone, really. I... wasn't much better, to be honest. Cheap vodka was easier then dealing with the loss in my life." She took a deep breath, and took a sip of her coffee. "I spent a year in bottles, Tenya, even as my baby boy got worse and worse. He's always been a sweet child and..." She closed her eyes and Tenya could see a single tear roll down her cheek.  
  
"Izuku is my hero, Tenya. Even back then... even when he was five years old, he saved me from myself. And that was when I found something stronger then my demons." She looked at Tenya. "So find something that's stronger then the pull on you. It doesn't matter what it is, but it has to be important to you. More important then what has a hold on you right now."  
  
It sounded so simple, but it made sense. Inko Midoriya found something stronger then the hold alcohol had on her... all Tenya had to do was find something that had a stronger hold then Trigger had on him...  
  
**Later...!**  
  
"I'm sorry Meester Chairface, but they hit another warehouse. And not jess that! But the Teeck! The Teeck was with them!" The Guy Who Looks Just Like Peter Lorre explained to Chairface Chippendale that the heroes managed to snag more merchandise. Thankfully, with their dispersed distribution, no single facility had enough to really effect the organization.  
  
But with the news he just received.  
  
"The Tick." Chairface had to think. He came to this country just to fight the Tick, also to make money, but no... he was teaming up with the League of Villains here to fight the Tick. To kill the Tick. "We'll continue to antagonize Mt. Lady and Kamui Woods. I enjoy their impotent rage with every piece of trash we publish, but I think it's time we add a little more variety with our works..." The artists he worked with could be real creepers, but the garbage they made moved, so that was all that was important.  
  
"I think it's time... to include our good friend the Tick..."


	43. Issue 0

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue 0  
  
In the city... of the City, the peace was broken by a maniacal cry!  
  
"Next time, Tick! NEXT TIME!" Chairface Chippendale shouted from the top of his lungs, shaking a fist as he clung to the rope ladder as his henchmen piloted a helicopter, managing to whisk the Triggermen to safety once more.  
  
The Wild Blue Yonder, the Mighty Tick looked upon the form of his retreating foe, before slapping his comrade on the back. "Just goes to show you, Arthur! Crime... crime might pay, but it pays well below minimum wage... and Crime? It's skimming off your wages to fund it's failing side businesses!"  
  
Arthur looked at the Tick, frowning slightly. "I... don't think it works that way, Tick. I mean, I get what your saying." A first for the accountant turned superhero! "But I think the metaphor could use a bit of work."  
  
"Awww, what do you know?" The Tick humphed, as the two made their way across the rooftops of the city of the City!  
  
"I know that Chairface's scheme wasn't as self-sustaining as he thought! At some point, someone was going to realize that they were putting more money into the system then they were getting out. Though, I have to admit... the cartoon was a nice touch." Arthur had seen plenty of multi-level marketing scams, but to see Chairface Chippendale apply that to literal criminal enterprises?  
  
That was a new low, even for the mutated gangster!  
  
Still, after dinner, thankfully provided by Arthur's sister Dot and talk about a team up with her scientist husband, one Dinosaur Neil. Seriously! With a quirk like his, he was just waiting it as a paleontologist! But once again, Neil declined saying that working at the dig site was plenty of excitement, gigantification quirk or not.  
  
But that night... that night was no easy sleep for the Big Blue Bug of Justice! He always claimed, to friend and foe, that Destiny spoke to him and Destiny was speaking to him in!  
  
In Chroma-Tick color!  
  
"Daddy...?" The Moss headed boy child said, seeing his father fall, a monster in human flesh mocking him!  
  
A dark pallor falling upon his family, as he drew himself inward, as his mother lost herself to her own method of coping!  
  
That... that was not all that he saw.  
  
"I refuse to accept this ending, Symbol of Peace!"  
  
"It doesn't require you to accept it or not, Symbol of Evil! UNITED STATES OF...!" The vision was flooded by light, the two figures vanishing from the force of the blow!  
  
The Tick... woke with a harsh start, gasping for breath! He had... visions before, when Destiny spoke to him and told him of what he needed to do, where he needed to go. She had had yet to steer him wrong, and he knew what he must do!  
  
"EGADS! ARTHUR! ARTHUR!" He shouted, he cried out! He noticed the sun was only starting to rise, but he didn't care!  
  
"It's 530 in the morning, Tick! What's so important!" Arthur cried out, pillow wrapped around his head.  
  
"DESTINY, ARTHUR! DESTINY! Gather our compatriots! I have an announcement to make!"  
  
Breakfast was a crowded affair not soon after, in Arthur's apartment.  
  
American Maid, Der Fleidermaus, Sewer Urchin, and even Paul the Samurai. The Tick looked around, noting the absence of some of his allies.  
  
"... where's Angus? Where's Captain Liberty? Batmanuel?" He looked around. "The Man Eating Cow?"  
  
"Sorry, Tick. Angus is laid up in the hospital again, Captain Liberty is off fighting some monster in LA, and Batmanuel..." Arthur trailed off, looking over to Der Fleidermaus.  
  
"What? Why wouldn't I put a restraining order of Batmanuel? He ignored all my Cease and Desist orders! The City is only big enough for one bat themed superhero." The rich coward stated. "Anyway, Tick... why gather us all here? What's going on?"  
  
"Yea... really weird that you got all of us here... really weird..." The Sewer Urchin twitched a bit, as he spoke.  
  
"I'm glad you all asked, friends! I, the Mighty Tick, have received a vision!" He stood up, slamming his hands on the kitchen table. "Lady Destiny has granted her champion, the Big Blue Bug of Justice, a vision of what has passed and what will pass! Unless I, the TICK! Take a hand in the guidance of that Land of the Rising Sun!"  
  
Everyone in the kitchen looked at him. Blank stares, jaws slack.  
  
"Japan? You want to go to Japan? Why would you want to go to Japan?" Arthur looked at his friend, the Tick, the mightiest hero in all of the great city... of the City! "Can you even speak Japanese?"  
  
"Er... no, but I couldn't speak french or german either, but I managed to catch on quick in Belgium with Blitz and Eclair." The Tick helpfully supplied.  
  
The American Maid turned to look at Paul the Samurai. "Aren't you going to try and talk him out of this" The suited samurai scowled.  
  
"I've known the Tick longer then you, Maid, but... we both should know at this point that if the Tick wants to do something, he's going to do it. Come hell or high water." They turned back to the Tick. "So you wish to go to my home country, eh, Tick? Any reason why?"  
  
"I'm glad you asked, chum! Are you familiar with that dispenser of Japanese Justice... the Symbol of Peace of Japan?" Paul was taken aback. The Tick could only have been talking about All Might, one of the strongest heroes on the planet, and the one that maintained Japan's low crime and villainy rate merely by existing.  
  
"You speak of All Might." Paul nodded. "Yes, I'm aware of who he is."  
  
"Excellent! This Mighty Man was featured in my Vision! A vision of things that may yet come to pass, but only if the Wild Blue Yonder does not interfere!"  
  
"... so you're leaving? You don't... how do you expect to survive?" Arthur was... confused. Sure, the Tick had been to Europe, but that wasn't exactly the same as going to a wholly different culture and country and language! The Tick looked at him.  
  
"Arthur, if I don't do this, something so horrible would befall that nation, that I can't begin to imagine the ripples it would have across the very world itself!" Arthur did think about it. What he did know about the Japanese hero system, the fact was, All Might kept the worst in check and the least from even trying.  
  
If All Might was the linchpin that held Japanese society together, then the loss of such a powerful symbol could cause law and order to break down. Society without law and order was no such thing. Society, followed by the government, followed by the economy. The world economy itself couldn't take a hit from the collapse of nation of Japan's economic statue.  
  
The moth suited man pinched the bridge of his nose, as his quirk, Numbers, showed him just what would happen if the Tick didn't go to Japan. There just wasn't any other way. Sure, the Tick may have been mad and at the absolute worst, was a lunatic, but if he said he was supposed to save one of the greatest heroes.  
  
He sighed.  
  
"Alright. If that's what you want to do Tick, I don't think I can stop you. But! If you're going to do this, we're going to do it right!" The rest of the meeting between allies was nothing more then a planning session of letting the Tick succeed in his mission to save the world by saving Japan by saving the Symbol of Peace.  
  
It was convoluted, but everything with the Tick was. And the Tick was full of surprises! Much like German and French, he quickly got conversational Japanese down and with enough practice, Paul was sure that the Tick would be fluent enough to not inadvertently insult any pro hero he ran into.  
  
One sixteen hour flight later, the Tick was processing through the airport. The lady behind the counter at the airport asked if he had anything to declare.  
  
"JUSTICE!"  
  
The locals didn't appreciate a large, loud blue clad foreign super hero. Neither did law enforcement, not really, but what were they going to do about a night invulnerable super strong super hero?  
  
In the grand scheme of things, not very much. But Lady Destiny had lead the Tick to Japan, through Tokyo, the suburbs of Mustafu of the greater Tokyo Metropolitan area.  
  
"Ah ha! A super hero can always be sure to find a pay phone!" Sure, it wasn't the phone booth that he was used to back home, but this was something he could use. Walking up to the phone, he sunk a coin into it, closed his eyes and let destiny dial the number.  
  
It rang once. It rang twice.  
  
'H-hello?'  
  
"I have a collect call for Izuku Midoriya! It's HEROISM, son! Do you accept the charges!?"


	44. Issue 39

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue 39  
  
"Are... are you sure this is a good idea, Pony? I... I never done anything like that before, with a boy or let alone a girl!" Ochako Uraraka was nervous, a blush burning on her face, her heart hammering in her chest. This was something that Pony Tsunotori wanted to do.  
  
She didn't know what to call the other hero in training. She liked Pony, Pony liked her and she was going along with it. The blonde was... she didn't know how to put it. She thought about her all the time and while she did think they would do something like this, she thought they'd be a few years older, a few years wiser, a bit more experienced in the world.  
  
"Ochako..." Pony's voice was in a near whine. "C'mon, it'll be fun. You'll feel good during and afterwards. I mean, it's great when I do it by myself, but... I can only imagine how much better it'll be with you."  
  
"But... but Pony, what if we get caught? We'll get in trouble! I don't want to get in trouble." Ochako didn't want to plead. She wanted Pony to be happy. When the blonde was happy, she was happy. "I mean... don't you think we're going at this a little fast?"  
  
"Not at all!" Was the half-American's reply.  
  
"Al... alright, Pony!" Ochako nodded. She could do this. Girls did this all the time, right? Of course they did! "I... Pony, I just want you to know..." She couldn't' just say that, could she? She tried to, but the words died in her mouth.  
  
"I know, Ochako!" Pony winked at Ochako, before leaping off the roof! "Fooooork!"  
  
And so Dive Bomber followed after the Tree Leaper into the night for a night of thrilling, illicit vigilantism!  
  
_I was still worried about the finals. They were looming upon me. I was trying to find someone else in the second year hero course, trying to pick their brain if they had any insight into what I could expect from the finals for the Heroic Course, but everyone I asked basically said while not against the rules, it was considered bad for student morale to reveal the secrets of the finals to the current year. Oh well._  
  
Izuku Midoriya was walking to the Gates of UA, that Temple of Youthful Heroism of Japan... the only place he ever wanted to go... the only place he seemed to belong. He was close enough that he had his phone out watching a news report.  
  
'What about my rights!' The criminal being pulled into the police department shouted. 'That *bleep* threw a *bleep*ing car at me and do these *bleep* sucking pigs go after her!?' Apparently there was a new vigilante in the area, the mysterious Dive Bomber. All anyone knew about her was that she was a girl, had some kind of super strength quirk as she was capable of throwing around cars as if they weighed nothing.  
  
Also, she was quite the trained martial artist, capable of bringing down thugs outside of her weight class quickly and efficiently.  
  
"Great... another vigilante that the Tick will want to meet." He shook his head. Every time the Tick heard of someone that ended up being super strong, the first thing he wanted to do was go out and fight them. The only exception seemed to be All Might.  
  
"Mornin', Midoriya..." Ochako bumped into him, yawning. She looked haggard like she didn't sleep that well last night.  
  
"You okay, Uraraka? You look awful." Izuku asked, concerned for his friend.  
  
"Pony kept me up all night." She said stretching her arms over her head. And then her brain booted enough that she realized what she just said, her eyes snapping open. She saw Izuku standing shock still, blushing madly. She was blushing madly.  
  
"Oh, Uraraka... please, do tell!" And standing right there was one Minoru Mineta, looking like the cat that ate the canary, with his hands held together, looking up at Uraraka and smiling.  
  
"I... I didn't mean it like that! It's not what either of you think!" She was still blushing, she could feel it burning on her face.  
  
"If it isn't what I think it is, why are you blushing so much, Uraraka." Minoru held a shit eating grin. "C'mon, we're friends, Uraraka... you can tell me anything you want."  
  
Ochako took a deep breath and then touched Minoru on the nose, then picked him up, marched over the court yard and tossed him a bit.  
  
"Don't you think this is a bit of an over reaction!?" He asked, floating several feet off the ground and away from anything that he could bounce off of. "You're the one that said it, not me!"  
  
"You'll be up there until you apologize, Mineta!" This was quite possibly the most perverted thing that boy had done in some time.  
  
"Fiiiiine. I'm sorry, Uraraka!" Ochako thought about Minoru's apology, then put her fingers together, dropping the boy to the ground with a meaty thunk. He lied their for a bit, until Izuku came and helped him to his feet.  
  
"And you were doing so good, Mineta." Izuku was disappointed in Minoru. He was doing good.  
  
"If she didn't want me to ask, she shouldn't have brought it up!"  
  
"Mineta, you and I both know that's a bad excuse. And you should know better. We both know she's still trying to sort her feelings out. Me and Mei spent many a night texting each other. They were probably doing that."  
  
Minoru sighed. "You're right, Midoriya. No one in the school is that fun just yet, but... a man can dream."  
  
"Just... keep it to yourself, Mineta. For everyone's sake."  
  
Still, it was time for school. Time for the future generation of great heroes of Japan to get their book learning in the hows and ways of super heroism! But there was still the storm cloud hanging in the room of 1-A. The missing Tenya Iida. That he was now in General Studies and the only one that was in the known of why... was Izuku Midoriya and Shoto Todoroki.  
  
When Izuku entered the room, though...  
  
"You can't sit there." Katsuki was berating someone. Who could it be... and then he saw who was sitting in Tenya's desk. Hitoshi Shinso, the friend of his from General Studies. "That's Four Eyes' desk. He's going to need it when he comes back."  
  
It was weird, to see that Katsuki was sticking up for Tenya. He didn't think that the ash blonde had it in him to look after anyone but himself, but here he was. And then Katsuki spotted Izuku.  
  
"Hey! Midoriya! This bastard is part of your loser squad, you tell him he can't sit at Four Eyes' desk!" Katsuki said to Izuku. For his part, the moss headed teen looked at Katsuki, then at Hitoshi, then back to Katsuki.  
  
"He has a name, you know." He said, quietly. "And he's friends with Iida, too. Shinso, did they promote you?" The former Gen Ed student nodded.  
  
"They did. It's not official just yet and I was told that it wouldn't be until after the finals, but my homeroom teacher wanted me to meet with the class I would be in." He looked over to Katsuki. "Bakugo started to take exception to where I was sitting, but it's the only empty desk here, where else am I supposed to go?"  
  
"You think I care, Fish Eyes?! You can go anywhere you want, as long as it isn't this class and that seat!" Izuku was surprised... the first time he saw Tenya and Katsuki talking to each other, they got along like a house on fire, but here he was sticking up for the guy. Just when Izuku thought he understood Bakugo, he goes and does something he never expected.  
  
Hitoshi though... Hitoshi wasn't like Izuku, not really. He wasn't going to put up with Katsuki's comments and his bad attitude and stood up, looked at the red eyed blonde and smirked, ever so slightly. "You know what, Bakugo? It's gonna be a great second semester."  
  
He cuffed Katsuki on the cheek. "See you later, Ground Zero." He winked, and off he went. "Midoriya." He nodded to the moss head as he left. There was a roar as Bakugo's anger finally boiled over and it took Shoji, Eijiro, and Rikido to hold him back.  
  
"Lemme go, dammit! Lemme go! That fish eyed bastard is dead! DEAD! YOU HEAR ME YOU SHITTY BASTARD! YOU'RE A DEAD MAN WALKING!" It took Eijiro and Mina several minutes to calm him down and finally he was let go, marching back to his desk and fuming, putting his feet up on it as he slouched in his seat, much like he did at middle school.  
  
_Oh, what a wonderful start to a brand new day. This is just what I did not need. The news of a new vigilante in my home town that the Tick was sure to want to meet, Minoru slipping into his old ways however briefly, and Hitoshi and Katsuki declaring war on each other._  
  
And I still don't know what the Finals are going to be like and have no idea how I'll prepare for them!  
  
"What do you mean I can't come in!?" Tomura Shigaraki was almost happy when he heard that the renovations were finished for the bar, finally he could return to his home and not have to deal with that brat and his dog!  
  
"Sorry, kid, but if you ain't on the list, you ain't gettin' in." The bouncer almost a full foot taller then the leader of the League of Villains.  
  
"I LIVE HERE!" He was losing his temper. He couldn't just kill the man, not in full view of the line... not in full view of everyone!  
  
When Tomura saw Kurogiri come out, he thought all his issues were solved.  
  
"What's going on here?" Kurogiri asked, pointedly ignoring Tomura's glare.  
  
"Sorry boss, but this kid wants to come in and he's not on the list." He pointed to the super villain with the touch of death.  
  
"If he's not on the list, he's not coming in. You know that already." Kurogiri looked at Tomura and he was certain, he was SURE that the bastard was smirking at him. "Sorry, rules are rules."  
  
Tomura was hyperventilating... this wasn't happening, this couldn't be happening. He was seething as he took a deep breath and walked away. He was still exiled form his own home! How could this keep happening to him! What ever did he do to deserve such misfortune!?  
  
He wasn't even invited to the grand soft re-opening of the bar that he lived at! How was any of this fair! And Kurogiri, he must have been enjoying this. He was muttering to himself, hands in his pockets. The League of Villains, so far, was more successful then ever, but it didn't feel like it!  
  
It felt like everything was slipping out of his control, through his fingers. People weren't talking about the noumu attack on Hosu, they were talking about Stain's capture and his insane rant as he was brought in! They were talking about the two heroes in training that managed to hold off the Hero Killer before Endeavor showed up to rescue them.  
  
People were talking more about the tragedy of Igenium's brother and his fall from grace!  
  
NO ONE WAS TALKING ABOUT HIM AND IT WASN'T FAIR!


	45. Issue 40

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue 40  
  
_The Rest of the School Day wasn't much more... there was a change in the air that we all knew about. Finals were looming, Tenya would not be joining us after summer break, and we would be getting a new class mate... if Katsuki didn't kill Hitoshi at least. I could already tell that the majority of next semester was going to be occupied by keeping the peace between those two..._  
  
School was over for the day, and the various students of UA Class 1-A were gathering their things and getting ready to leave for the day when a voice cut through the dreary setting.  
  
"Anyone else want to go the Mall?" The voice belonged to a pile of floating clothing, of which Izuku was told was the class' resident Invisible Girl, Tooru Hagakure. "I know we've all been... down lately, so maybe we should go to the Mall."  
  
"The Mall?" The Vice President, Momo Yaoyozoru inquired. "I've been wanting to plan an event for the class to bond, but what with everything that keeps happening..." She trailed off, as no one wanted to be reminded about the cloud hanging over the class.  
  
"I think it's a great idea, Hagakure!" Izuku quickly said, trying to get everyone to think of anything else. "There's a great arcade at the Mall and it'd be nice to mingle outside of our usual cliques."  
  
Some murmuring was in the class as they thought about what they would, what they could do, what they should do.  
  
"Well, I'm out." Katsuki stated, standing up from his desk. "You lot can go and enjoy your little... whatever the fuck it is you wanna do. I'm headed home." He started to walk away only to find Eijiro and Mina blocking his place.  
  
"Not so fast, Bakubro!" The redhead said. "If we're going, you're going." The pink skinned girl nodded.  
  
"Sorry, Bakugo. But the Bakusquad is a democracy and you got out voted." The ash blonde never looked so insulted.  
  
"A... a democracy!? Who decided that!? When was this decided!?" The three got into an argument that ended with Katsuki bound up in Mina's stickiest, least acidic slime, hauled over Eijiro's shoulders. He was glaring death at everyone, cursing the air blue.  
  
"We'll meet you guys there. We'll need a moment to sort Bakubro out." With that, the three made their exit. A silence hung in the air, only broken by Minoru's laughing.  
  
"If they aren't already, they will be soon." He said, shaking his head.  
  
"Totes." Denki agreed. Everyone else in the class pointedly and completely on purpose, ignored the two. With that said, however, the majority did agree to going to the Mall. A good chance to get out of their usual cliques and, in at least two cases, introduce some of the friends they had outside the class.  
  
All told, it appeared that both class 1-A and class 1-B decided to go on this little hang out at the Mall like a bunch of normal teenagers for once. Izuku had invited Mei to join them, but she had to excuse herself as she was busy with a hush hush secret project and she was inspired!  
  
Izuku was very very afraid, having seen what Mei was capable of doing when she put her mind to it. Still, it was a nice change of pace to go to the Mall instead of Tattooin Marketplace! It had not one, not two, but three fully furnished arcades and honestly, it had been a while since Izuku had played _Hero Fighter_ on a real cabinet and he thought he'd try his luck with impressing his classmates.  
  
Or at least that was the thought. Even with the stated mission of going to the Mall, everyone still congregated into their little cliques, talking about this or that, with maybe one or two others joining in.  
  
Izuku let out a sigh, before excusing himself. He was going to go get something. Anything that got them to start acting like a group, even if it killed him!  
  
"Kill you? Well... don't mind if I do..." And a hand clapped him on the chest... three fingers and a thumb resting on his body, the middle finger raised slightly. "If it isn't the golden child of UA." That voice... it couldn't be.  
  
"Shi... Shigaraki?" Izuku didn't know what he was supposed to do, as he was frozen. If he shouted and screamed... he knew that to have all five of the man's fingers touch you was death.  
  
"Oh, you know my name? I should be honored! UA's freshman valedictorian and Sports Festival Champion..." There was a sigh. "Oh, but what's the use?" Izuku felt himself dragged to a bench, as the League of Villain's leader sat heavily on a bench. "If I kill you, what good does that do? Sometimes, Midoriya, I don't even know why I bother with all of this."  
  
Was... was he for real? This was actually happening?  
  
"... with... what?" As he didn't want to die, Izuku humored the villain for now.  
  
"This... everything. Hating All Might, being a villain, wanting to tear down society to it's foundation." He looked up at Izuku, his face shadowed by the hood of the sweater he wore. "Did you know that despite the noumu attack in Hosu City, more people were talking about Stain and his claim of Sons to rise up and avenge him?"  
  
"... Stain's capture was more interesting? More exciting, actually. Two students from UA's hero course rescue their classmate, managing to hold of Stain and his cult for the Flame Hero Endeavor to show up and capture the Hero Killer once and for all." Or at least that was the official story.  
  
"Cut the crap, Midoriya. You and I both know that wasn't what happened at all! You and Endeavor's kid, you managed to defeat the Hero Killer, but will they give you credit for it? No, they won't. That's why the League of Villains exist. Society needs to be torn down, stripped bare and rebuilt." The villain wasn't sounding quite like Stain, but it wasn't anything that Izuku hadn't heard before.  
  
"With the likes of you at the top, huh? That's what I don't get. Why do you hate All Might so much? I know people that dislike him, thinking he can be a bit self-righteous, but never actually hate." Yeah, he was doing this. He was talking with the villain that probably wants nothing more then to kill him, messily.  
  
"Because All Might is a fake god! Everyone in this stupid country is blind to it! All Might is the linchpin holding society together and once he's removed, it all comes down! After that, Society an be REBUILT! And yes, with the likes of me at the top! You think I'm a villain because I want to be, Midoriya? Do you think if I had the chance offered to me, that I wouldn't have been a hero?" He was starting to seethe, glaring hate at the moss headed boy.  
  
"No, All Might took that chance away from me. He's failed me, he's failed this country, you don't know it, Midoriya, but he's failed you too." He actually spat onto the ground. "The failures of his hubris are piling up and at some point, even he won't be able to keep them over his head! And on that day, I'll be there and I will end the Symbol of Peace, letting a new era begin!"  
  
The leader of the League of Villains stood up, cracking his neck as he did so, and let go of Midoriya. "You know what? I'm feeling ten times better. You're not bad, Midoriya, and for listening, I've decided not to kill you today." He started to walk away, whistling.  
  
"You know what? Stain was right... there is a change in the wind. I think I know what I need to do now." And Shigaraki disappeared into the crowd.  
  
Izuku was of two minds about this. On one hand, he wasn't dead. Always a plus. On the other hand, he inadvertently gave the leader of the League of Villains... a pep talk. He was jostled out of his revelry by Minoru.  
  
"Hey, Izuku! You gotta see this!" he had a rolled up comic in his hands. "Denki and I were checking out some of the various vendors and we found this!" It was a comic alright. On the cover was ... ... ... well, that wasn't anything that he expected.  
  
"... wh... what the hell is this?" Izuku didn't know what to say, looking at the cover which featured Jack Rabbit and Aphid back to back. However, the interior featured a team up between the hero and vigilante that ended in a far more pornographic way.  
  
Izuku was of two minds about this, also. On one hand, he had bootleg merchandise. On the other hand, there was someone out there that decided to ship him with himself. And on the third, mutated hand... Mei Hatsume should never be told of the existence of such a comic. But there was something about it. Something familiar.  
  
"I recognize this artist! They did _Mountain Grove_!" He barely let the title leave his mouth before he looked at Minoru, who was grinning ear to ear, leaning in. Izuku quickly changed the subject. "The publisher is the same too! You can see their emblem!"  
  
The emblemn, was just a circle and a chair. Trigger Studios. Wait a second. He pulled out his phone, having remembered something that the Tick had said about The Guy Who Looks Just Like Peter Lorre.  
  
"... ... ... no way." The publisher emblem and a file photo of Chairface Chippendale... was one and the same!  
  
"Midoriya... what's going on?" Minoru wasn't sure what was happening. One moment, he was showing that his friend was had those creepy stalker types, but now...  
  
"It's nothing. Honest." It wasn't nothing. Not really. But he wasn't about to tell Minoru about his nightly outings with the Tick. "Where did you get these...?" He didn't want to let this distract him from his confrontation with Shigaraki, but... there were heroes working on the League of Villain case.  
  
Right?  
  
_Minoru showed me where he bought the comics, it was your average merchandise kiosk and the vendor was tight lipped about selling pornographic material, but the fact that his best seller's main star was being pushy seemed to be enough to get him to talk just a bit._  
  
And just what I expected. The Guy Who Looks Just Like Peter Lorre.  
  
... the plot thickened!  
  
**The Exile of Tenya Iida! Part 1**  
  
It wasn't that having gone from the Hero course to the General Studies course was embarrassing, but everyone in his new class knew that he was a loser. That he messed up. That he had everything in the world going for him and now he was...  
  
What was he?  
  
He thought he knew, but the last week or two showed him that he didn't know himself all that well.  
  
Or his parents, for that matter. He frowned, looking at his phone. They had to be blocking his number. It was the only thing that made sense. The only thing that he could believe. They wouldn't just hang up on him, would they? Could they?  
  
"Tenya. You shouldn't do that to yourself." His brother called in as he entered. Tenya grimaced, looking at the wicked scar on Tensei's face. Given to him by the Hero Killer and one of his disciples, a so called Son of Stain. That was just what the world needed, the Hero Killer to have a cult.  
  
"I know, I know." Tensei sighed. "I never winning Hero Quarterly's handsome hero award ever again." He chuckled to himself, before wincing and rubbing his face.  
  
"How do you do it?" Tenya asked from where he was laying on the couch. "You're joking about it. He could have killed you... they didn't know if you were going to wake up..." Tensei sat down, shaking his head.  
  
"Tenya... if I didn't laugh, I'd cry. Everything that's happened. To me. To you. Our mother shouldn't have kicked you out like she did." He sighed, putting his head in his hands. "I don't agree with what you did, but I know why you did it." Tenya didn't know what to say at his brother's words.  
  
"I feel... I feel that if I talked with my classmates more. Told them what I was feeling... how I was feeling... that my life would have never spiraled that way it had." Tenya looked towards his brother. "Do you think I could still be a hero, Tensei?"  
  
The elder Iida sibling looked at his brother. "Did you go to your meeting today?" Ah, the meeting. Having to sit around a room at Mrs. Midoriya's office, as everyone talked about themselves. What mistakes they made. How their problems could be boiled down to such petty things as drugs and the way it fueled their demons. He closed his and eyes and nodded.  
  
"Then you're already my hero, Tenya."


	46. Issue 41

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue 41  
  
_After my confrontation with Shigaraki at the Mall, I made sure that Aizawa-sensei heard about it. Someone had to be investigating the League of Villains, surely. Their leader and transportation managed to escape during the USJ incident and more importantly, they had their monsters run amuck in Hosu City.  
  
Or maybe I was being naive, thinking it could be so cut and dry, especially with finals just days away._  
  
This was it. The day had come. Their final exam for the semester before summer break was to start. The written portions were difficult, but that wasn't what was on the minds of the various students of Class 1-A. No, they had a practical final exam. Something that built upon all that they learned through out their time in the Hero Course.  
  
And worse, with the pall still hanging at the loss of one of their own, who knew who would pull through!  
  
It was exactly these thoughts that were giving Izuku the shakes as he sat, his leg bouncing up and down. He was excited. He had to be excited. He was sure... he was certain that he managed to pass the regular subjects, but it was everything else on his mind. What would the practical be? Who was investigating the League of Villains? Who else but Mt. Lady and Kamui Woods were investigating that counterfeiting ring?  
  
"Nervous?" He looked up to see Ochako, already in her Uravity costume. The day was ticking by, slowly but surely, the hour approaching where they would have their practical.  
  
"Little bit." Izuku replied, re-breather around his neck, hood down. Class 1-A and 1-B would be doing this jointly, as the Principal was inspired to see how the two classes would work together. "They haven't told us anything about the practical exam. Who know what it could be? What we could be facing? Robots? Other students? Third years? Teachers?"  
  
"You really think they would have us face down other students?" Ochako asked, sitting down next to Izuku. He shrugged.  
  
"It's a possibility. If not other first years, then why not Third Years?" It made sense, in a way. But that would make their finals the same as the Third Years and that might be a bit too intense.  
  
"True, but I think they'll have us face robots, myself. That's what the entrance exam was, why not go with what works?" Ochako made a good point, but Izuku couldn't imagine how much that would cost the school. Who knew what kind of Funding the school got, but... robots weren't cheap!  
  
But yet... it was five minutes until infinity. Five minutes until he was facing his destiny!  
  
"What the ffffffuck, Midoriya! Why do I have to team up with a nerd like you!?" Katsuki Bakugo, the future would be Going Nuclear Hero, Ground Zero, was teamed up with Izuku for their practical final exams.  
  
"... probably because between the Sports Festival and the Entrance exam, we're First and Second place?" That did make sense, in a way. The two were the top two students in the Freshman year by all measures. The ash blonde frowned, then glared, then scowled.  
  
"WHATEVER!" Apparently the logic behind what Izuku said got through to him, but Katsuki wasn't about to not dismiss his rival. "Just stay out of my way!" Izuku rolled his eyes as they got into their position.  
  
'For this practical exam, you will be a pair of young villains caught by a Hero. You're objective is to either escape... or last against the Hero you are facing.' Came Aizawa's voice from the speaker. They didn't seem to give a time limit, but they never did a count down either. Though, them being villains in this situation was probably part thought exercise. Anything they could think of on how to avoid or escape a Hero... they would probably want to have a counter for if it was successful.  
  
Izuku idly thought who they would face. Perhaps the Blood King? Maybe Midnight. They were both mid to close range fighters, so perhaps they would force the two of them to think on their feet with Snipe!  
  
Until he heard it.  
  
"EVIL DOERS BEWARE! YOUR INEVITABLE DEFEAT IS AT HAND! For you are they and I am ME! THE TIIIIIIIICK!" No... no, it couldn't be. They wouldn't.  
  
They did.  
  
He was.  
  
"SPOOoooOOOOOOoooooooOOOOON!" Izuku thought fast, grabbing Katsuki by the collar, and leaping out of the way as the Tick slammed into the ground with all the subtley of bomb! The Tick? They had to face the Tick! He wasn't sure he could do this. The only thing worse would have been All Might!  
  
"HAHAHAHAHA! There is no need to fear! HOPE HAS ARRIVED! I am HERE!" And standing there like a great golden god was All Might, all smiles and laughing, as he too joined the fray.  
  
Right. The Tick and All Might. This was doable.  
  
"Katsuki, we have to run!" They could do make it to the exit! If they did that, they didn't have to fight and more importantly, not get broken by two of the strongest men in Japan at the moment!  
  
"What? No! This is my chance to shine! You see what they're doing!? We're the top dogs, so they gave us an INSURMOUNTABLE CHALLENGE!" He roared with laughter, launching himself towards the Professional Hero and Vigilante.  
  
"Dammit, Katsuki! This isn't a comic book!" Of course he could have left and escaped and survived... and honestly... that would be behavior befitting of a villain, he remembered his promise to save Katsuki from himself. He let out a long suffering sigh, and ran into the fray himself!  
  
He found the ash blonde making a stand against the Big Blue Bug of Justice, who stood their and took everything that Katsuki could fling at him.  
  
"C'mon, sport... that the best you can do?" The Tick egged Katsuki on, who snarled.  
  
"FFFFFFFUCK YOUUUUUUU!" The same blast that picked Shoto Todoroki and through him across the stadium during the Sports Festival! When the dust cleared, the Tick still stood, all smiles and laughter.  
  
"My turn? My turn." And barely did a flick of his wrist, sending Katsuki flying into the air and into a building, crashing through the wall. That gave Izuku pause, a brief moment where he was worried about his comrade.  
  
"HAH! TOO SUBTLE!" That voice...! He barely had time to react, sliding off to the side as All Might crashed down next to him! He was so on edge that he didn't even need Tension to heighten his battle instincts.  
  
"Good show, young man! But this is over!" Izuku's eyes when wide as he brought his hands up, catching the mighty blow against his body as he too went flying into the building, slamming through the wall! His bell was completely rung as he got to his feet unsteadily.  
  
"Katsuki?" He whispered, harshly. He didn't need to cry out and he didn't want the Heroes to think that he was still up and about. The timer was still ticking down and they may have only had seconds.  
  
"I'm just catching my breath!" Katsuki replied form where he lay, sitting up. "Fucker packs a punch, I'll give him that!" He cracked his neck and grimaced from the unhealthy sounding popping noise that came from it.  
  
"We need a plan..."  
  
"Of course we need a plan, dumbfuck! And I already have one: Win!" He got up and raced to the hole in the wall he made when he crashed through.  
  
"That's not a plan! That's a goal!" Izuku cried out, racing after him!  
  
"Heh! Just you watch, Midoriya! These gauntlets those losers in Support developed? They store up all my extra sweat! Right now they're full! I don't even think All Might can withstand this kind of blast!" There was no mirth in the grin that split his face, only teeth. "All I have to do is pull this tab right here! This will knock them both off their feet! JUST YOU WATCH!"  
  
And Izuku did watch as Katsuki leapt out of the building, readying up the biggest explosion he was ever going to use! Izuku barely got to the edge of the room when he saw the explosion rip through the battlefield, watching as the figure of All Might careened to the distant side of the arena.  
  
He leapt down to the crater caused by the Ash Blonde. Maybe Katsuki was right. Maybe they could win! Maybe they could actually defeat the heroes!  
  
"Look at that, Midoriya! That's the difference between me and you!" Katsuki triumphantly stated, as the dust whirled around them. Izuku barely had time to cry out as a dark shape took form behind Katsuki.  
  
"LOOK OUT!" Izuku called, just as the looming figure of the Tick broke through the dust and grabbed the hero in training.  
  
"Gotcha now!" The Tick shouted, still smiling, still laughing!  
  
This wasn't good. Izuku had to think fast. He had to save Katsuki and get the both of them out of here before All Might recovered and it was over for the both of them. He only had one play to use.  
  
"MY GOODNESS! LOOK OVER THERE!" He pointed somewhere in the distance. "A DISTRACTION!"  
  
No. There was no way that the Tick was that stupid. He knew the Tick could be... thick headed. A bit book dumb, but there was no way he could fall for that.  
  
"EGADS!" The Wild Blue Yonder cried out, dropping Katsuki as he whipped his head back so fast that his antennae swayed in the wind. With Katsuki free, Izuku quickly grabbed him.  
  
He was pumping One For All into his legs, he needed the speed. He was at full Tension, he needed the awareness and reaction time! His vision was tunneling as he sped towards the exit. He could do this! They could do this!  
  
And then something strong and heavy and way faster then it had any right to be barreled right into him.  
  
All Might had returned, sending the two would be heroes flying against the ground, Izuku slamming into a boulder, Katsuki's weight and inertia doing nothing for him except make it hurt more. The two boys were tangled up as they scrabbbled back up, the two heroes catching up to them.  
  
"This is it boys!"  
  
"Sorry, but it's over now!"  
  
They couldn't do it, they couldn't pass!  
  
And then an alarm sounded through the arena. Time was up!  
  
"Wait... did we... does that mean we pass?" Izuku asked, looking from All Might to the Tick.  
  
A few minutes later, they were getting rated by the 1-A and 1-B homeroom teachers, Eraserhead and the Blood King.  
  
"The two of you..." the Blood King started. "Are two of UA's most promising students. In the Entrance Exam, you are first and second for the Practical Portion. In this years Sports Festival, among the freshman class, you are once again, first and second. It's why we provided such an... unusual challenge for you."  
  
Unusual was definitely a way to call that. The Tick and All Might teaming up like that? It was like they were being punished for being talented or exceptional.  
  
"Needless to say..." It was definitely Eraserhead talking with them, and not Aizawa-sensei. Everything about him was that of the Underground Professional Hero, not the stern if lazy homeroom and Quirk Theory teacher. "We presented you with something insurmountable and unachievable." He looked over to Ground Zero, Katsuki Bakugo first.  
  
"Ground Zero, in this situation, your first reaction was to attack a far superior foe when the stated goal of the exercise was escape. Why?" Katsuki felt a lump form in his throat from the gaze of the hero.  
  
"The best defense is offense. There was no possible way that they'd let us leave, so why not go down swinging?" He felt his eye twitch slightly. "And besides, I'm the only one that decides what I'm capable of! Not you and not some stupid test!" He punctuated his exclamation by crossing his arms.  
  
"Mmmmhmmm." Eraserhead looked over to Izukuk. "Jack Rabbit, is there any reason why you went after your partner when he decided to charge not one, but two superior opponents instead of making your escape?"  
  
Izuku... no... right now, he was Jack Rabbit... it was Jack Rabbit that was trying to find his words.  
  
"Even though the stated goal of test was to escape the proctors... even though the scenario listed us as villains... I wasn't about to let Ground Zero fight insurmountable odds by himself. Even if we are villains, a villain that leaves behind his allies will soon find himself alone against the world. And that's all too true with heroes! Doubly so!" He swallowed heavily. It sounded too cheesy, like something that the Tick would say. "If we're to be pillars of righteousness in this cruel world, we need to stand together and hold the canopy of civilization aloft!"  
  
He frowned as he finished speaking. That was totally something that Tick would say, but he called no attention to it, just looking at the two homeroom teachers expectantly.  
  
"Hmmm... well said." Eraserhead replied. "Choice of words not withstanding. As for your grading... Jack Rabbit!" Izuku stood at attention as his name was called.  
  
"You pass. You thought the fight through, proved yourself to be capable of solving the problem of not just one, but two far superior opponents, and most importantly, would not leave your partner behind. Ground Zero!" The pro hero looked over to Katsuki, the ash blonde looking at both the teachers.  
  
"You also pass the final. With an asterisk." An asterisk...?  
  
"... a what!?"  
  
"It means that while you managed to survive the combat time, it was only through strength of your quirk and the quick thinking of you partner that you managed to pass. The exam is pass fail. You didn't do badly enough to fail, but there were some parts you completely ignored to prove yourself in combat." The Blood King replied.  
  
"Meaning...?"  
  
"Meaning that had you been on your own, it would have been a fail." It was blunt and too the point. They were soon dismissed. Izuku could only think how angry Katsuki could be, he didn't shout, he didn't explode, but he could feel the simmering anger coming off him from even here.  
  
"Katsuki...?" He should've thought better and not turn himself into a target for the blonde's ire. But continued on. "I think what the teachers were trying to say was that you need to think with more then just explosions! You need... you're really smart, you always were... you need to strategize. Think of a plan and follow through with it. Something other then explode everything and everyone."  
  
"I think... I think I'm starting to understand my problem, Midoriya." Did he actually get through to the ash blonde. "My quirk... my explosive fists... they're a single tool. A great big heavy hammer! But you can't just use a great big heavy hammer on every single little thing!"  
  
Yes! YES! He got through to him!  
  
"Sometimes you have to use a little hammer so you don't break through the wall! That's what I'm lacking! FINESSE!" No, no, no! Wrong lesson! ABORT ABORT ABORT! "I need to fine tune my explosions even further! It's not enough that they're big or I can use them to propel me along! They need to be able to solve EVERY problem, not just the ones that require a big heavy hammer!"  
  
With renewed resolve, Katsuki Bakugo... Ground Zero, walked off, laughing to himself. He knew what he needed to do now!  
  
As for Izuku... he just shook his head.  
  
_So close, yet so very far away. It had to be a secondary superpower or something that let Katsuki Bakugo take the exact opposite of every lesson life was trying to teach him about not being a jerk. 'My supporting characters are badass because I'm badass!' 'I don't need a better plan, I need better explosions!' 'I'm not the bad guy, I was just precocious!'_  
  
_Three more years of this... ugh._


	47. Issue 42

She kept fiddling with her gauntlets, waiting for the moments to tick down. When Ochako Uraraka, the Zero Gravity hero Uravity would be facing her practical exam. With 1-A and 1-B being teamed up this, she had to either have the best or worst luck.  
  
She was teamed up with that bubbly blonde American... that girl with the horns that somehow did what she wasn't sure was possible... just thinking about it... about her... about how she felt. It made her heart hammer in her chest, it made her blush.  
  
She never put too much thought to those sort of things, but UA was the start of something different for everything for her. Using her quirk more then she ever had before during the Entrance Exam, being pinned under rubble, being rescued by Izuku...  
  
Of course she would have developed a crush on him. It was just the way she was, until she discovered that Izuku was already with that girl from the Support Department. Alas, the two were already close before school had started... Hatsume had already crossed the finish line before she even started the race.  
  
Then she met that Affectionate American that seemed to just to...  
  
She wasn't sure how she felt! How to describe it! She fell in and out of love far too easily, but never another girl, before!  
  
Perhaps this was just another limit for her to go beyond! She always thought those limits were that of her quirk, her courage, her own resolve...  
  
"You ready to do this, Uravity?" She barely had time to react when she felt a pair of arms on her shoulders as Pony Tsunotori... Rodeo... draped herself over Uravity. She could feel her breath hitch, her heart speed up, and her face blush. She took a deep breath! She was going to get used to Rodeo's constant public displays of affection even if it made her glow like a 1000 watt light bulb!  
  
"Yeah, yeah I am! Let's show them what Rodeo and Uravity can do together!" Determination filled her voice. She could do this!  
  
"Now you're talking!" Rodeo replied, kissing Uravity on her cheek.  
  
And oh, did she burn.

* * *

Minoru Mineta was cursing his luck. CURSING IT! Do to the nature of the fact that Tenya Iida was knocked down into General Studies and that Hitoshi Shinsou hadn't made it just yet into the Hero Course... Minoru Mineta got the fuzzy end of the lollipop when he was told that he would be facing his final exam... alone.  
  
He couldn't even enjoy that the Rated 18 Hero, Midnight, was actually going to touch him!  
  
... with that flogger of hers... and that sadistic streak a mile wide.  
  
He was hiding out in the rocks, thinking fast. Who knew his tiny, tiny body would actually be at the advantage this time?  
  
Finally, looking like this paid off and came in handy!  
  
And then he heard that sharp peel of a noblewoman's laugh! This was like a horror movie!  
  
"Come out, come out where ever you are, little Grape! I might just eat you up!" Her voice was echoing and in dawning horror.  
  
"No! STOP IT! TRAITOR!"  
  
Minoru Mineta... had the weirdest boner right now...! And it wasn't helping in the least bit, he took a deep breath and it was time to face his fears and his nightmares.  
  
Another breath to settle his nerves... then one more big one that he held. He wasn't going to give into Midnight's grace, beauty, or sadism! She wanted to eat him up, well he was going to prove to her that her eyes were bigger then her stomach!  
  
"GRAAAAAAPE RUUUUUUSH!" He cried out, as he charged at her!

* * *

Having known Mina Ashido since early childhood... Eijiro Kirishima thought he knew everything there was to know about her. And here he thought that biggest bomb between them was the fact they both found the explosive boy so damned attractive. It was partly why he had lost in that round, distracted as he was by just about everything going on with that manly blonde.  
  
But no, it turned out that Mina Ashido was actually an alien from the other side of the galaxy that was almost kidnapped by a bunch of aliens that only seemed to be capable of saying Hey and what's more...  
  
He always liked Mina, but now... now she was exotic. Intruding his thoughts with almost the same frequency as Bakubro.  
  
... and on multiple occasions, at the same time!  
  
"Eijiroooooo! Get your head out of the clouds!" Mina cried out, shaking him from his daze as he plowed through another block of cement... concrete? He wasn't actually sure what Cementoss made, but there it was. Mina's acid made it weak and then he could run right through it.  
  
They clicked together.  
  
But of course they did. They were best friends! They went to school together and here they were, both at UA. She even helped him pick out the right shade of hair dye and pomade!  
  
'This isn't going to be like middle school, Eijiro! We can't keep crushing on the same guy!' Pffft... she made it sound like that all they did when they hung out was talk about Bakubro and his killer abs and muscular legs and piercing red eyes...!  
  
He just barely managed to dodge a flying piece of cement... concrete? It didn't really matter, but he managed to dodge it.  
  
"Get in the game, Eijiro! You think Bakugo is going to go out with either of us if we fail our exam?"  
  
... ... ... okay, now he was all fired up!  
  
"LET'S DO THIS!"

* * *

Itsuka Kendo had studied martial arts for the better part of her life. It was hard to find someone that treated them with the same respect that she did. Sure, heroes used martial arts all the time to get a leg up when it came to villains. It didn't matter what your quirk was, unless it changed you substantially, it wasn't going stop someone from hip tossing you.  
  
But Ojiro Mashirao? She found a kindred spirit in Tailman! Someone else who treated martial arts as something beyond just fighting, but an actual art form!  
  
Which was just the same, they were facing Eraserhead for their finals.  
  
"So... how about a gentleman's agreement, Aizawa-sensei!" Itsuka called out. The Erasure Hero tilted his head curiously, not unlike a cat.  
  
"A gentleman's agreement?"  
  
Itsuka nodded. "Mmm. Mashirao and myself... we won't use our quirks, if you don't use your capture scarf." A most intriguing offer, that she discussed with the tailed blonde before they started. He agreed that it would be interesting to see how they would stack up against a pro hero without quirks involved.  
  
"Well..." The 1-A homeroom teacher didn't say anything else as he charged the two of them, moving faster then either of them had ever seen the Underground Hero moved! They were almost immediately on the back step, an onslaught of fists, elbows, knees brought upon them.  
  
Shouta Aizawa's quirk wasn't exactly the best when it came to combat. It only worked for as long as he could keep his eyes open and locked on his target, so he learned a force multiplier to bring about victory. In his case? His scarf, made out of the same material as capture tape, as well as a mastery over hand to hand combat.  
  
In all honesty?  
  
It was Exhilarating!

* * *

Mei Hatsumi was a complete super genius. Of course she was and she already knew that, having made business cards when she was 8 that stated just that. Mei Hatsume, Super Genius! It wasn't bragging when it was true! Still, she breezed through her exams and passed her practical with the greatest of ease.  
  
All because of Izuku Midoriya. He was a treasure and a gift that just kept on giving. All that data from her super cute babies that he put through the wringer with that almighty quirk of his! She was inspired by him!  
  
It also didn't hurt that he was so damn attractive, either!  
  
Still, someone had to look out for him and in her capacity as official girlfriend for the hero Jack Rabbit (as well as the Vigilante Aphid) she had plenty of note books filled up with various designs of gear and costumes for both of Izuku's identities. Sure, maybe it was a bit toyetic, but when she was inspired, she was INSPIRED!  
  
Still though... there was something at the very front of her mind. The Tick. A quasi-licensed hero from America (who knew that AEGIS had such a lenient licensing policy when you were so beloved) that had saved the city of The City time and time again from disaster, whether it be a rampaging paleontologist with a gigantification quirk or a bunch of guys in gas masks that thought about blowing up a damn robbing banks were a great idea, the Tick was a regional hero.  
  
Even if he was a D-lister, but as far as Mei was concerned, after the Big Blue Bug of Justice and his young ward saved her and her parents that night, he was beyond being ranked.  
  
Still, the Tick was a mystery wrapped in an enigma and was going to be a tough shell to crack. But Mei Hatsume was a super genius. And if anyone was going to unravel that mystery, it was going to be her!

* * *

"What's the point to all of this?" Tenya Iida asked, as he was helping Mrs. Midoriya set up for the meeting. The finals for General Studies were... it wasn't even worth thinking about how easy they were, comparatively. He was an intelligent student and even with his flaws, quite capable.  
  
"Hmmm? The meetings, the discussions? The stories? The speeches?" Mrs. Midoriya shook her head, as she turned on the coffee pot. "We understand what you went through. We're probably some of the few people that truly know what's happened to you. Sure, the nature of what you suffer is different then mine, but we're here for each other." Tenya clicked his tongue, which had just recently lost it's black coloration.  
  
"We're all suffering together." He rolled his eyes. It was childish.  
  
"It's not that and you know it, Tenya." The green haired woman scolded him and he quickly apologized.  
  
"I'm sorry, it's just... all of this just seems so useless. Talking about it just makes me want it." He swallowed hard, trying to push it out of his mind. Mrs. Midoriya shook her head and sat down.  
  
"I met Izuku's father at an accounting firm we both worked at. He was some hot shot accountant capable of saving millions if he just put his thoughts to it. I was just some secretary that helped crunch numbers whenever I could. Counting money, other people's money. I like to think I was good at it, but now..." She sighed, looking down to the floor, placing her head in her hands.. "I work with kids like you and others that are in worse situations, but I still count. One thousand, eight hundred, and twenty five. It's when I had my last drink, almost five years ago."  
  
It had been only a couple weeks since that disaster in Hosu. Almost 14 days since that last hit of Trigger. He... Tenya was counting the days, too.  
  
"I know it's scary, Tenya. But it's not a weakness. We can't control who we are, and that's frightening. It might be the scariest thing about yourself right now. But you know what we can control? The Zero. That is something we can control." She took a deep breath, and deeper sigh, before looking Tenya straight in the eyes. "And you know what, Tenya? Fuck the zero."


	48. Issue 43

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue 43  
  
She really didn't know what to do. What she could do. Mister Chisaki was... he was scary at the best of times and at the worst of times... she'd rather not think about it. It was unusual for Mister Chisaki to take her out like this. It was even more unusual that Mister Rappa was so nervous. A fact that Mister Chisaki was well aware of.  
  
"Nervous, Rappa? That's so unlike you." Her... she didn't want to call him her daddy, because daddies didn't do to her what Mister Chisaki did, but everyone treated him like she was his daughter.  
  
"Just nerves. Apprehension. We don't know anything about who we're meeting. And they asked you to bring Miss Eri, that can't possibly be good." Mister Rappa explained. Eri _was_ nervous, though. She was nervous about what Mister Chisaki was going to do with her. Where they were going.  
  
The manor they were visiting looked ramshackle. Run down. Seen better days. No lights were on, even as the sun started to sink below the horizon. When Mister Chisaki walked up to the door and began to knock... it opened on it's own.  
  
"Hn. Spooky." Was Mister Rappa's reply, as they headed in.  
  
"Welcome!" A haggard voice called from the distance... a squeaking noise filling the air as soon, brought into the light... was whoever Mister Chisaki was supposed up to meet.  
  
It was the oldest man she ever seen before. Lines on his face and wispy hair and the largest, bushiest eyebrows... beyond what she thought possible! She could tell he was wearing his pajamas, the pearl pink garments on his legs could only be pajamas, but he was wearing some kind of jacket made out of velvet.  
  
"You'll have to forgive me if I'm already in my pajamas, Mister Overhaul." The old man replied. The wheel chair was being pushed by a woman, dressed up as a nurse. But not like a real nurse, like a cartoon nurse. And she looked like she walked right out of those dirty magazines Mister Chrono would read when he didn't think anyone was watching.  
  
The chair itself... had a tank for oxygen, the cannuli running to the old, old man's crooked hook of a nose and there was an IV drip leading to his hand. He seemed to notice her, hiding behind Mister Chisaki's legs... she felt like a mouse being gazed upon by an owl. There was a gleam in his eye and she didn't like it.  
  
"Oh... hey there, Little One." He waved at her, leaning as close as he could in his wheelchair, before he looked over to Mister Chisaki. "Well? You going to introduce your friend there, Overhaul?"  
  
There was a brief pause, as she looked over to Mister Chisaki. She could see him gulp, a slight show of fear that she never saw Mister Chisaki show ever before. She looked over to Mister Rappa... and he was trembling. The both of them were focused on the old, old, old man.  
  
... the fact that they were both afraid of him... made her scared. She felt Mister Chisaki's hand on her back, as she flinched at his touch.  
  
"Go on, Eri. Say hello to the... man." She was pushed forward. She had to take a step to keep from falling over and took a second by pure instinct, but still managed to stumble onto her knees. She looked up and she saw the face of that old, old, old, old man...  
  
And it scared her. It scared her more then Mister Chisaki did, when he was angry and when he... hurt her. She was trembling as she watched him reach into a pocket of his strange, velvet jacket.  
  
"Would you like..." And pulled out a lollipop. "A piece of candy, little girl?" Oh! Maybe he just looked scary and he was actually really nice. She nodded and took the lollipop, unwrapping it and popping it in her mouth.  
  
She immediately regretted it.  
  
"What's that? Not a fan of licorice!?" The old, old, old, old, old man was a monster, as he cackled at his own little prank!  
  
_Summer Break was right around the corner. They had already sent out permission slips to participate in a summer training camp, a way for the hero course kids to work on where they were weakest, remedial courses for non heroic subjects, and of course, a make up exam for those that failed the finals.  
  
I didn't have to worry about it, personally, having passed all my subjects and managed to pass against the odds in the practical.  
  
My friends... some of them weren't so lucky...._  
  
"Oh man! Oh man! Oh man! Oh man! Oh man!" Denki Kaminari was worried, worrying! He was screwed, he was boned! Remedial courses were totally in his future. If his parents let him go to Training Camp anyway! They might just decide to punish him!  
  
"C'mon, Kaminari... what did I tell you when we were studying?" Minoru Mineta was one to talk. Not only did he pass the written portion with flying colors, he managed to pass the practical at a handicap against a real pro hero.  
  
"... you told me that C's get Degrees. But I don't even think I got a C, man!" Denki was freaking out!  
  
"Just calm down, dude! IF you keep freaking out like that, you'll get yoruself worked up, and then when it turns out to be nothing, you'll feel even worse!" Minoru wasn't having a good time trying to calm Denki down, but... he was getting there, as the blonde took a few breaths.  
  
"Alright, alright... I'm good. I'm fine. I can do this." Then it dawned on him. "Wait a second! Mineta! How many hours are left in the school day?" Minoru blinked.  
  
"Less then one. We're on study for the last 45 minutes of the day. It's the last day before summer break, Kaminari. You sure you're feeling alright?" The blonde grabbed Minoru by the shoulders.  
  
"You don't understand, Mineta! We have 45 minutes to gather our evidence and present our case! The Aphid Hunt, man! THE APHID HUNT! It's my own chance! If I'm going to have my summer, we need to unmask APHID!" He could do this! He could succeed! All he had to do was unmask the vigilante that was attending this school! In all honesty, Minoru had forgotten about the Aphid hunt himself. There were... more important things to do. Especially after the incident at the USJ, and lgetting ready for the Sports Festival, and then Field Training... it just slipped his mind.  
  
The PA system pinged. "Good afternoon, children! This is Principal Nedzu! Wishing that you all enjoy your summer vacation! Also, we are proud to announce the end of the Aphid Hunt! Thank you for participating! Will Team Midoriya please join me in my office? Thank you!"  
  
Denki Kaminari's face had fallen. Not only had he failed his semester, they had done so bad that they were going to be busted out of the Hero Course. They were going to be joining Tenya in General Studies after Summer Vacation. His parents were going to kick him out and he was going to have to live with Minoru.  
  
With a dejected sigh, he started to head towards the Principal's Office, Minoru following after him. They spotted Izuku right outside.  
  
"H-hey guys." He was looking rather sheepish. Like he knew something that they didn't. Ochako Uraraka was with him, sporting a split lip and a day old shiner and looking proud of herself! They were soon joined by Hitoshi Shinsou and Itsuka Kendo. Mei Hatsume... was as expected, fashionably late. It was time to get this over with.  
  
They entered the principal's office, to find Nedzu pouring tea for all of them, motioning them to sit next and in front of him on the couch and chairs he had set up.  
  
"Now then... where do I start? Well, I suppose congratulations are in order, first." The principal took a sip of his tea, letting that sink in.  
  
"... congratulations? For what!? We didn't do anything!" Denki shouted.  
  
"Oh? Mister Kaminari, do you not remember the details of the Aphid Hunt? What the win conditions were, yes?" Of course he did. They had to unmask Aphid!  
  
But... wait...  
  
"If... if we won, but we never presented... then that means..." It dawned on Denki just what happened! One of the members of their team was the vigilante!  
  
"It means that someone on your team is Aphid, yes." That was the biggest bomb of all and the blonde couldn't deal with it!  
  
"Who...!"  
  
"Midoriya." Ochako stated, nodding.  
  
"Totally Midoriya." Itsuka conferred.  
  
"Yep." Minoru followed up.  
  
... ... ... what?  
  
"What!?" Izuku seemed the most surprised at all! "You all knew!?"  
  
Minoru shrugged. "I knew in the first week."  
  
"It took a month, but it all added up if you knew what you were looking for." Itsuka said.  
  
"Pony said Mei..." Ochako hooked her thumb at the stunned looking pinkette. "was dressed in an Aphid costume. It kinda clicked from there."  
  
"And I found out before the Sports Festival." Hitoshi said, unhelpfully.  
  
It would seem, that the only member of Team Midoriya that didn't know Izuku was Aphid... ... was Denki!  
  
"Well, we'll let that bomb settle, but here it is. Congratulations. As being part of the winning Team, all hero course students pass for the final year. Including Mister Shinso, as he was already promoted from General due to his performance during the Sports Festival and through recommendation from Eraserhead." He turned to Mei. "We'll be having your paperwork sent over, Miss Hatsume." With that, they were allowed to finish their tea and were allowed to leave.  
  
"I... feel betrayed." Denki finally said, after some awkward silence.  
  
"Sorry..." Izuku started, only to be shushed by the blonde.  
  
"Not by you, Midoriya! But by everyone else here! I'm the only one that didn't know who you were, apparently! And none of them told me!" He looked over the rest, so disappointed in his friends.  
  
"... really? You're upset about that?" Minoru said flatly.  
  
"Yes! Because if I had known, I wouldn't have worried so much about passing!" He put an arm around Izuku's shoulder. "Midoriya is an upright guy! I wouldn't have turned him in if the prize also included one hundred million yen!"  
  
_Huh. And here I was worried that telling my friends about the truth of who I was... would have backfired completely and utterly. But here they are... standing by me. It... wasn't so bad, actually! I could get used to this!_  
  
Brainchild had enjoyed messing with Tomura. It was fun. The guy was too wound up and took things way to seriously. Sure, he could cause things to distingrate with a touch, but it never occured to him to just outright murder him, so Charles decided that he'd keep his button pushing to a minimal. Keep it petty and he'd probably stay alive.  
  
Probably.  
  
But that did nothing about the only other person in the League of Villains even remotely close to his age. Sure, there was Mustard, but he was older and not all that bright, all things considered. But he'd much rather talk with the poison gas guy then... Mosquito Girl there. Who kept looking at him, staring at him.  
  
Never talking, but leering at him.  
  
Until one day, she came up to him and talked to him, while he was fixing up Skippy. She was energetic. She said her name was Toga, but he had no reason to believe anything about her based on the fact that more often then not, he could smell blood on her breath.  
  
"You got a really neat dog. I think that's cute. The way you look after a pet like that." Toga had said to him.  
  
"Uh... thanks? He has a thing for chasing cars that were coming towards him. It didn't work out." He had replied.  
  
"Oh... oh wow. That's... that's so sweet!" She leaned in uncomfortably close, her breath hot and fetid, stinking of blood. "You're my boyfriend now, Charlie. But I just want you to know... I catch you looking at some hussy... I'll cut out your eyes!" She giggled as she pulled back.  
  
"See you later, Charlie!" And she skipped on her way out of the newly renovated HQ for the League of Villains.  
  
The Brainchild... Charles... gave a very involuntary shudder. This was not how his dad explained dating girls would be at all!


	49. Issue 44

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue 44  
  
"The issue, Shigaraki, is that you rely too much on your quirk." The American super criminal, Chairface Chippendale, he was wiping a sword down with some oil, as he and Kurogiri were demonstrating what expertise in the blade could mean for the stylish supervillain in the modern era. Breadmaster's renovations of the League of Villain's headquarters were quite extensive and had the almost compulsory underground portion for those that would live at the headquarters, as well as other facilities.  
  
Tomura Shigaraki was sitting off to the side, not giving it any thought, actively dismissing the mere thought. "Pffft." He blew it off. All he needed was his quirk. That's what Sensei told him. Besides... "Anyway, my quirk decays anything that I touch. Do you really think that I could use any weapon?"  
  
"It is a bit of a conundrum for the lad. If he took the grip of a knife or a sword or a gun, it would disintegrate in his grasp. And the boy has never wished to wear gloves." The Warp Quirk user, Kurogiri added. These were the kind of situations that Tomura loathed to be in. A social situation to guys at least twenty years older then him and completely incapable of using his own limited social skills to read their body language, as Chairface.. had a chair for a head and Kurogiri had his miasmic mist that made up his head.  
  
And wearing gloves? Please... that would make him mastered by his quirk, not the other way around. And he wasn't going to allow that too happen.  
  
"Is that so, Shigaraki?" You had to have practice with Chairface to understand just what he was getting at... it was all in the way the legs moved. The bearer of the Decay quirk nodded, running a hand through his hair. "Hnnn... so I see."  
  
And quick as he pleased, before Tomura could even respond, a silver arc flashed through the air, slicing off good amount of hair from the leader of the League of Villain's head!  
  
"What the hell, Chairface!?" What the hell was he thinking? What could he possibly be doing! The American super criminal shushed him, as he gathered up the locks and wrapped them around the handle of the sword in his hands.  
  
"You don't decay your own hair, Shigaraki... catch." And he tossed the blade at the young man, who thankfully had the hand eye coordination needed to snatch it out of the air! With his hair wrapped around the handle that he was gripping... the sword wasn't decaying at all!  
  
"Excellent. I, myself, learned the art of the sword when I went to Choate. There was a club dedicated to academic fencing or _mensur_. But we won't be doing anything for that. Classes start now. I'll be your headmaster... and I am a most cruel teacher!" He flicked the tip of a new blade and before Tomura could figure out what was happening, the American super criminal was upon him.  
  
His instincts, honed by training from Sensei was the only thing that allowed his head to not be in the space that Chairface's sword arced through, a singing slicing silver flash!  
  
"What the hell!?" He barely got his own blade out only to hear the two blades ring as they collided! He could feel the tremors up and down his arm as their blades locked.  
  
"It took decades for me to master the sword, Shigaraki! But you don't have that! You don't have decades, you don't have years, you don't even have days!" Their blades broke from each other and Tomura found himself taking a step back, only able to put up the most pathetic of defenses against speed of his make shift opponent!  
  
"Don't you understand, Shigaraki?! Too take a step back is to grow old! To stand still is to die! The only recourse is attack!" He was mad! Insane! Why wasn't Kurogiri doing anything? Why wasn't he helping!? He didn't want to die... not when he still had his hatred for All Might... not when Izuku Midoriya still lived!  
  
So he did the only thing he could do, as he took a step forward and brought his blade around! This wasn't a video game, this was life or death now! And he was going to live!  
  
The gulf between their skills easily became apparent, as he went for a lock of their blades, that Chairface turned into a disarm.  
  
"You're not completely helpless. With live steel and live blood, you'll learn!" He kicked the sword back up into his free hand, then tossed it back to Tomura. "Now then... let's try this again!"  
  
Tomura was ready for him this time!  
  
_There was maybe another day before the Summer Camp. We had a few days rest and I knew that the Tick wasn't going to come with me, but honestly? I didn't need the Tick to come in and save me every time. I didn't need him in the Hero vs Villains Battle Trial. I didn't need him during the Sports Festival. I didn't need him against the Hero Killer himself._  
  
Sure, him helping at the Unforeseen Simulation Joint was needed and apparently someone he knew decided to attack him in Hosu City with the monsters rampaging all around.  
  
Besides, it was just summer camp? I was gonna be fine.  
  
"GET BACK HERE, YOU BRAT!" The man made into a monster was chasing after the vigilante known only as the Aphid! Partner to that mad man of Mustafu, the Big Blue Bug of Justice himself! And right now, probably over his head!  
  
Oh, sure, he shouldn't go out and do the vigilante thing by himself like this, but he felt like celebrating and he was in a good mood! When a hero was in a good mood, criminals and bad guys would have to be wary, because the Aphid was on patrol!  
  
Which brings us to the present! When you were going to be a vigilante, you should go all out. And the Aphid went all out this time, finding a typical gathering of bad guys, well known ne'er-do-wells and proceeded to follow them! Unfortunately it did take them out of Mustafu, but so did following at the heels of the Tick!  
  
And lead him to the run down factory that seemed to be the cliche headquarters for any would be super villain or criminal cartel!  
  
Izuku Midoriya, Aphid, had seen mutation quirks before. Quirks that change the entire way people look! In his class alone there was Tooru Hagakure and Ojiro Mashirao were in his class, just to name a few! But here, he was facing someone with a similar quirk to Gang Orca.  
  
Except instead of being a killer whale, the size and shape of a man, it was a man in the size and shape of a blue whale. Which lead to his current predicament of trying to outrun such a horrible, huge monster man that was crashing through girders and supports of the warehouse as he chased after the comparatively mouse sized vigilante!  
  
He got low, he activated the frictionless skate function on his shoes, and slipped through the narrow crack of the factory wall, making his escape.  
  
Hands on his knees, he managed to catch his breath, waiting for the villain to do the dumb thing and slam into the wall of the factory.  
  
He got his wish when the monster crashed through the wall!  
  
"Oh, c'mon... can't a guy get a break!?" Aphid said to no one in particular, exasperatedly. Sure, he couldn't run... so they were going to do the fight thing. He could do this! Wouldn't be the first giant he brought done, but certainly the biggest!  
  
"They're gonna have to mop you up when I'm done with you!" A fist the size of a compact car attached to a arm the size of a small bus, attached to a man the size of a small building came swinging at the relatively diminutive vigilante!  
  
But Aphid was a canny one, managing to leap into the air at the right moment, causing the villain to miss! Landed right on his hand and started to run up the massive limb, cocking back his own fist!  
  
And with a primal scream, green bolts of power traveling up and down his arm as he focused! He slammed his fist into the man monster's chin!  
  
" **SMMMMMMMAAAAASH!** "  
  
A mighty crack filled the air and down the giant went.  
  
He did it! He was successful.  
  
And then he heard the sirens. Right. For a brief moment, in the whole moment of facing a monster unlike any before... Aphid forgot that he was a wanted vigilante, and now he had to skedaddle before trying to explain to the cops just what he was doing.  
  
And then he realized... he knew exactly where he was and he knew exactly where he was going to hide out!

* * *

Mei Hatsume was getting ready for bed. Her bedroom was one part work shop, one part laboratory, and only rarely one part living space. She was drying her hair off, already slipped into her pajamas and cursing the deal she made with her parents that on weekdays she'd be in bed before ten as long as she was allowed to tinker to her heart's content on Friday and Saturday this summer.  
  
"Ugh. Why did I have to make such a dumb deal with the 'rents?" She muttered to herself. So many half finished projects on her work table. Beckoning. Calling her. It was putting her in a bad mood that nothing was going to solve!  
  
And then something hit the window to her bedroom. A pebble.  
  
Then another pebble.  
  
She brushed it off. Could be anything, really. Easily ignore.  
  
And then she heard someone knocking on the glass and now she had to know what the hell was going on and opened the window and saw there was Izuku Midoriya.  
  
"... Izuku... what are you doing?"  
  
"Hey, Mei... mind if I come in?" He was grinning that dopey grin of his and he was wearing his Aphid costume.  
  
"... did you do something stupid, Izuku?" She looked at him flatly, folding her arms.  
  
"What? Me? Do something stupid? C'mon... it's me, Mei!" She went to close the window.  
  
"Wait, wait, wait! It was really stupid, it's just a complicated happenstance. I didn't set out to come here when I was following those bad guys. Or when I knocked out their boss. Or fled from the police."  
  
Any one of those things would get Izuku in trouble. He just barely survived the Aphid Hunt at high school! The amount of people that we're learning who Aphid was increasingly included people that Mei wasn't sure she could trust! But Izuku, big dopey idiot with his big dopey idiotic grin and his cute freckles and his bright eyes would tell anyone who asked at this point.  
  
"Ugh! Get in before someone see's you, Izuku!" She threw her hands up. What was she going to do about her idiot?  
  
"Thanks, Mei, you're a life saver!" He slipped into the room, his foot finding a slick patch of machine oil, sending him stumbling as he fell forward onto his pink haired girlfriend, the two falling to the floor.  
  
"Well... this is awkward, if not unwanted..." Mei said, with a smirk, though there was a blush staining her cheeks. But that wasn't at all like her boyfriend, who's face was a burning bright red.  
  
"M-m-mei! I... I... I'm so sorry!" Her hero... a stuttering mess. She decided to silence him the only way she knew how right now, and kissed him!  
  
_... ... ... ... ... ... ...!!!! (IzukuMidoriya.exe has crashed! Please wait for a reboot!)_  
  
For the Mighty hero only known as the Tick, this was one mission that he could not fail! This was one person he could not disappoint! His mighty muscles were barely strained as he held is objective aloft!  
  
"Alright, Tick, you can put the couch down now." Inko Midoriya said, as she turned off the vacuum cleaner. It was so nice having someone around that could move the furniture so easily. She couldn't remember how long it's been that she could vacuum underneath the couch and arm chairs.  
  
"Yes ma'am! Just know, that where ever dust bunnies gather in their masses, the MIGHTY TICK will be there to help slay them!" The Tick proudly exclaimed as he sat the couch down.  
  
"You don't need to always help me, Tick. You already done so much, but... every little thing is appreciated." Inko sighed. It was nice having a man back in the house, but... of course the Tick would never replace her late husband.  
  
Still, Izuku adored him and she could see that Izuku improved substantially, even if she was against the whole going into danger, Izuku always wanted to be a hero, even before the disaster that struck her young family.  
  
"Pity I won't be able to join the lad on his training trip this summer. Oh, it would be so cool, to help mold the minds of the junior defenders of this land! But alas, the mighty Tick has a MIGHTY team up with Giagantigal and Treeman, as we track down the perverted purveyors of pornographic periodicals!" ... ... ... Inko sighed. It was just the way of her world now.  
  
**The Exile of Tenya Iida, Part 2**  
  
Tenya wasn't sure what to expect on the other side of the door when it rang. He was dreading his parents, his grandfather, his other siblings. Maybe someone from Tensei's office saying that he got injured again in a fighting with a super villain.  
  
He was surprised to find the diminutive principal waiting for him on the other side of the door.  
  
"Principal Nedzu... what are you doing here...?" He exclaimed. His behavior that last... the last month it seemed, he had not been himself. He had lost... too many hours of sleep and quite a bit of weight.  
  
"You do realize we agreed that part of your..." The furry principal paused for a moment. "Redemption would include a heroic crash course, no?"  
  
"Shouldn't we wait until the second semester starts, sir?" It was an obvious question, but sometimes he didn't know about the Principal. What was an act and what was him just being eccentric.  
  
"Perhaps, but all your friends and colleagues on the hero course have their summer training camp coming up, so I've decided to take it upon myself to make sure you don't fall so far behind. Who knows? You might impress your teachers only a week into the second semester and be rejoining them in no time." Nedzu replied as he walked in and made himself comfortable.  
  
"I don't think Aizawa-sensei will want me back in his class."  
  
"What Eraserhead wants isn't in the calculation at all, Mister Iida. All you have to do is impress me. If I can see that you've made strides in your growth, if the mistake you made is well and truly behind you..." He let his words dangle and draw off. "And I had a most wonderful conversation with your sponsor, Mrs. Midoriya. Delightful woman and mother to one of your classmates... who I believe let you get in touch with each other?"  
  
"Izuku Midoriya has been a far better friend to me then I have to him." Tenya replied, sitting down, heavily.  
  
"Please, Mister Iida... Tenya... Mister Midoriya is everyone's friend. Even Mister Bakugo, despite the fact that they have a... history of antagonism with each other. It's actually quite admirable of him. But that's not here nor there... let's get started. It's going to be one enjoyable summer, I can assure you of that!"


	50. Issue 45

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue 45  
  
Katsuki Bakugo knew he was just about the best thing to ever happen to his shitty town and school. Because of course he was! Sure, Midoriya was a bit wound up, but he went from being a shitty Deku to someone he could totally claim as a rival and not feel embarrassed about it!  
  
But no... the enthusiastic way that Shitty Hair and Raccoon Eyes tied him up. That was something for him to think about. It made him look back on all his interactions with the Bakusquad.  
  
Sure, it was just the three of them right now, and Midoriya's squad of losers may have been bigger, but they were the loser squad for a reason! And not just because Midoriya was their oh so fearless leader.  
  
So what if they won the Aphid Hunt? That meant nothing and it was nothing. Besides, a snipe hunt was for losers that weren't absolutely perfect! He didn't need nor ask for any leg up!  
  
... he was getting distracted. Focusing on something that wasn't important. It's why he sent a PM to both Raccoon Eyes and Shitty Hair. They needed to talk. Sure, they had a few days before summer camp, but if he was going to be living around them for a couple weeks, they had to... clear the air.  
  
It's why he was waiting for them in front of the currently closed gates of UA, impatiently tapping his foot as sparks left his hands.  
  
"What the hell is taking them so long!?" He shouted aimlessly. He hated it when people weren't prompt. He even took into account their train ride from Chiba! Ugh! How could they accept wallowing in mediocrity?  
  
"Sorry, Bakubro!" Finally, there was Shitty Hair, combing his hair as he approached, Raccoon Eyes not far behind him.  
  
"Yeah, Bakugo... when I got your PM last night... I wasn't sure what to think."  
  
"I'm with Mina, here... it's not like you to just wanna hang out."  
  
Katsuki rolled his eyes. Of course they thought this was a social call and not something important as all hell that required this to be dealt with before summer camp.  
  
"Kirishima... Ashido." He wanted them to know this was important. That this was something that he was taking seriously. No nicknames, but he did allow himself a smirk as their surprised looks as he used their real names. "There's something I've been noticing about the Bakusquad. Something about you two."  
  
Shitty Hair was blushing, almost as bright red as his dyed hair. It was harder to tell with Raccoon Eyes, given her skin coloring, but you learned things about your friends when you hang out with them as much as he has.  
  
"Wait, wait! Bakubro, i-it's not what you think at all!" Shitty Hair put his hands up, a rather timid defensive gesture he hadn't seen from the hard body boy before.  
  
"No... no Eijiro, we can't hide it from him any more." She sighed, and looked at the Ash Blonde. "It's true... it's all true. We can't help it, though!"  
  
"Of course you can't help it!" Katsuki rolled his eyes. Sure, Shitty Hair and Raccoon Eyes weren't the sharpest knife in the block, but they made up with their endearing personalities and fact that they weren't a pair of toadies.  
  
God, he hated it when people just followed him because they were scared of him instead of acknowledging he was great.  
  
"... you... you know?" Shitty Hair replied, surprised and eager.  
  
"Of course I know! Why wouldn't I know? You think I'm blind!? You think I can't see what you and Ashido are up too?!" He gave a dismissive grunt. Geeze, sometimes people were so dense. Though this would explain why he had to bootstrap them both into passing their classes. "The two of you can be so stupid! Why would you think I'd have a problem with it?"  
  
There was a brief moment of clarity from the two other members of the Bakusquad and before he knew it, he had Shitty Hair and Raccoon Eyes both hugging him.  
  
"Baku... Katsuki, you have no idea how relieving this is!" Raccoon Eyes was whispering in his ear. Shitty Hair was just quietly sobbing into his chest.  
  
Something was wrong. He misread the situation. He wasn't too proud he couldn't admit when he made a mistake, this egregiously!  
  
Especially as the two kissed him both on opposite cheeks.  
  
"I think... I think I've made a terrible mistake..."

* * *

Izuku Midoriya woke with a start, his head was hurting, his back was hurting and oh... he wasn't wearing his costume! Someone had stripped him down to his shorts! And he was on the floor... covered with a thin blanket and a thread bare pillow.  
  
That someone's hand soon fell and smacked him in the face.  
  
Mei Hatsume, bless her heart she was one of the best things to ever happen to him, was sprawled out in bed, snoring almost as bad as the Tick. But that would explain a few things...  
  
"Right... I managed to wind up in her prefecture last night and needed to hide out after knocking out that Monstro creep." He remembered what happened, he stumbled on top of her and then she kissed him and then... he has a hole in his memory...  
  
"Did I really black out after she kissed me?" He said aloud, to no one in particular, shaking his head and looking around. Mei's room was just what he expected. Half room, half lab, half workshop.  
  
She had a drafter's desk set up and he took a little peak, seeing the designs she had.  
  
There was, of course, Jack Rabbit designs and support gear, including a collapsible staff but this was all theory and conjecture. Shuffling through the papers and he came across a diagram listed as Project: Vigilante.  
  
There was the Aphid costume on there, as well as Pony's Tree Leaper costume, but improved from the home made aspect that they both shared. He was surprised to see scribblings for Dive Bomber, but they were mostly with question marks as it was entirely theory as nothing was known about the Mysterious Vigilante new to Mustafu.  
  
"Black Diamond? Ignite?" Izuku was surprised by the last two, as the details of how they were supposed to work... he looked over to Mei, still sleeping and sprawled out on bed. "Why would you make vigilante costumes for Kirishima and Todoroki...?" It was enough to make him wonder.  
  
Still, he had to hit the bricks before Mei's parents realized that she had her boyfriend over all night and that was an awkward conversation that he didn't want to have. But he didn't want to just leave her alone, so he was just going to give her a little peck on the cheek.  
  
He shuld have realized that he was asking for trouble when the pinkette tinkerer latched on to him like he was a cuddly teddy bear and dragged him down with her.  
  
"Ack! C'mon , Mei! Leggo!" He wasn't shouting, he didn't want to wake her parents and draw attention that he was in Mei's room.  
  
"No..." Oh, she was awake now, too. "I'm not gonna see you at all this summer, Izuku... can't I just keep my boyfriend here for a moment and enjoy his muscley cuddliness?"  
  
"What about your parents?"  
  
"What about them? You've met them already and they like you and they know we're dating and they already know you're here." That was bold of her! A little too bold for his liking, to be honest.  
  
"But do they know that you stripped me down to my shorts and we're in bed together?"  
  
"Damnit, Izuku... stop worrying all the time! Lemme just hug you for a bit longer, then I'll let you go." She nipped at his ear, causing him to yelp! "And if you're lucky, maybe I'll let you put your costume on first!"

* * *

"You wanna do what?" Chairface has spent enough time around Tomura Shigaraki the last few days to understand what he was thinking, time and time again. But even he couldn't follow this process.  
  
"Much as I hate to agree with Chippendale... I fail to see how this could work." The Breadmaster was out of his kitchen, for once, dealing with League Business. Sure, the bar was never more popular and making quite a bit of money and a lot of the League liked him because they never ate so well before, but really... who were these two big hot shot American villains to question the Leader of the League of Villains?  
  
"You heard me." Tomura reiterated, pointing to a still of the little shit heel, Katsuki Bakugo. It was a clip of him from the Sports Festival, where he called out Midnight's trampy costume. "Katsuki Bakugo is more of a villain then a hero. And I think he'd be perfect for the League of Villains."  
  
"Perfect how? Because he's a little shit? Is that what you're talking about? If we base one's predilection towards villainy solely on being a rude little shit of a teenager, you may as well go to any primary school and recruit from the 9th graders!" Chairface replied. "I think you need to think this over. Besides, how the hell do you plan on fetching him for this recruitment pitch?"  
  
"Oh? Finally I know something that you don't!" Tomura replied, grinning. "I happen to know just where UA is sending their hero course students for a summer training camp. We'll have the League attack and kidnap the little bastard and I'll show him how much better it is to be a villain."  
  
"And then when his teachers and their friends show up to rescue him?" Breadmaster asked. "I didn't have this headquarters renovated just for the Top Ten heroes of all Japan come over and wreck everything!"  
  
"The baker is right. If you escalate this situation, what then?" Both of the American Super Criminals had a point, much as Tomura was loathe to admit. Honestly, it was Sensei that put the idea of capturing the explosive bastard and tempt him to the side of devils, but that would only have All Might show up at their door step.  
  
"So what are you suggesting instead?" Tomura asked. If they were so smart, let's hear their idea if they had any!  
  
"I like the whole attacking the kids. Rough them up, maybe kill a teacher. Let them know that no matter where they are, they are not free from us." Breadmaster replied.  
  
"If you still want to have a meeting with the little bastard, once they cut the camp short after our attack, I'll be sure to make this meeting happen. But no one knows we're working together, so they won't escalate to here." Chairface added.  
  
Well... if that was the case... perhaps he could have his cake and eat it too. Sensei was going to be so impressed! He protected the League and will get a new member!

* * *

"Why the hell did you set him off, Spinner!?" Dabi was running. He didn't want to be one to run, but as a Son of Stain, he wasn't supposed to kill or harm heroes that were worthy to Stain's ideals.  
  
"I didn't do anything, Dabi!" The Lizard man was loping on all fours on the wall, racing against the pro the managed to tick off!  
  
"All right you SCRUBS! It's time for Wash to CLEAN up your act!" They were currently being chased by, all evidence, was a sentient anthropomorphic washing machine. Wash, by all metrics, was a stand up guy and they just ran into him while Spinner was trying to give a broody, anti-heroic speech about how Society needed... he didn't actually pay attention to the Stain fanboy.  
  
Honestly, Dabi was only using Stain as a means to an end. The death of Endeavor... then Stain happened to get caught by a trio of heroes back in Hosu City and a wedge formed between the two disciples when Dabi wouldn't let Spinner harm Shoto Todoroki.  
  
He didn't bother to explain his reasons, he didn't feel the need too.  
  
"Didn't do anything? You were on the corner of the building and you said, and I quote! 'I am SPINNER! The one who will SPIN the MIGHTY CANDYFLOSS OF STAIN from the sugar of this fallen Society!' Then when Wash spotted us, you cried out Knife and attacked him!"  
  
"... ... ..." Spinner gave a flat look, not that he didn't have anything but flat looks being a lizard, but continued to race against the bubbly blasts of water that Wash was sending their way. "How are we going to be the true Sons of Stain if we don't test if Heroes are Worthy? Obviously if they can fight us off, their worthy, right?"  
  
It was a good point, and Spinner wouldn't go for killing Endeavor until he was good and ready and really, they needed to break out Stain sooner rather then later, as they headed up the wall, finally losing their pro hero tail.  
  
"You want to prove yourself worthy and ready for the big leagues, Spinner?" Dabi said, as they made their way to their local safe house. "You know anything about the Wild, Wild Pussycats? Attacking them at their mountain base... even if we just escape, it'll prove we can free Stain from Tartarus."  
  
Spinner looked at him, eyes wide. "Yes, yes! Once we free Stain, we can gather more followers! We'll be a veritable army!"  
  
Dabi would need an army if he want to achieve his goals. All a means to an end.


	51. Issue 46

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue 46  
  
_To say that the bus ride to their summer camp was... awkward was a bit of an understatement. I noticed that Katsuki had separated himself from Ashido and Kirishima, which only confirmed that they had most likely confessed to him and honestly?  
  
I don't think that Katsuki was prepared for anything like that. It was just like middle school, never even noticed the girls fawning over him, just the attention.  
  
Oh to have been a fly on the wall at that moment._  
  
The summer camp was supposed to take place at the Wild Wild Pussycat's mountain retreat, where they trained themselves and other search and rescue style heroes. It was also where Minoru Mineta spent his field training week. But now? Now they were going to spend a few weeks here, honing their quirks, learning to work together.  
  
It was class 1-A and 1-B, taking their first step into the unknown.  
  
"Nervous?" Izuku asked, as Hitoshi looked in aw of the wooded area. It was real, it was true, he was here.  
  
"I... I don't know what to say. This is all I ever wanted!" Hitoshi replied. He wasn't going to cry. Not in front of everyone, but his eyes were wet.  
  
And then, the 40 heroes in training met their hosts, the Wild Wild Pussycats.  
  
Mandalay. Ragdoll. Pixie-Bob. And Tiger!  
  
"Ladies, gentlemen! Welcome to our facility! Several hundred acres of old growth forest and mountains!" Mandalay, the leader of the Wild Wild Pussycats said, gretting the teens. "Oh! And allow me to also introduce my nephew, Kota."  
  
She motioned to a little boy, standing off to the side in a horned ball cap looking extremely indifferent to the world.  
  
"... wait... what?" Minoru's voice carried from the back. Izuku on the other hand... he saw a miserable little boy and that reminded him of himself, when he was that age. Too much, in fact.  
  
He approached the boy. He'll cheer him up! Who doesn't like a hero?  
  
"Lemme through, lemme through!" Minoru probably just wanted to meet up with his trainers from the field training week.  
  
"Hey little, guy!" Izuku said, greeting Kota. "Put 'er there!" He held up his hand. High fives were fun when you were six, right?  
  
Tick.  
  
Well, he was looking at him.  
  
Tick.  
  
A bit impassively.  
  
Tick.  
  
No, wait. His frown deepened.  
  
Tick.  
  
"MIDORIIIIIIIYA!" Minoru leapt as best he could out of the crowd, still stuck there, as Izuku turned his head.  
  
"What is it Minyergh..." He slowly, deliberately turned his head, as he turned a pale shade of green, that miserable little boy pulling back his fist.  
  
"Kota!" Mandalay shouted, as Izuku fell back. A massive wave of sympathy passed through the male heroes in training. Who expects to be punched in the groin like that? Denki turned to Minoru.  
  
"Did you know that would happen? Why didn't you warn him?"  
  
"I was trying, dude! I didn't think the little ball puncher would still be around!"  
  
_... I like to think that first impressions, while important, shouldn't really color the way you feel about people and situations and locations._  
  
... I barely been here for five minutes, and the little punk punches me right in the crotch. Summer camp was going to be too too too long.  
  
After that little incident, it was explained that the students would be using the training facilities provided by the Wild Wild Pussycats to work on their quirk and how to be a better hero!  
  
For one Minoru Mineta... it was quite simple. His teacher, Shota Aizawa had sat him down and talked about his quirk. How Pop Off worked. How the glue balls growing out of his head was his hair, kinda.  
  
"So what my dad did was he got these balls for me. They were the same shape, size, density, weight of my glue balls we set up a target in the backyard and I must've spent ten months throwing those balls at that target leading up to the entrance exam." Minoru was explaining. "I found some old baseball training manuals and I managed to figure out how to pitch."  
  
Aizawa thought about it, thought about it some more. "Did you ever practice fielding?"  
  
"Fi... fielding?" It had never occurred to Minoru to learn the defense throwing styles from baseball. The footwork needed to be on the move, the short accurate throws, even how to tag someone!  
  
"I guess not." Aizawa thought about it, before grabbing a sack of what...  
  
"Wait... how did you get those?" There were the exact same balls he practiced with at home!  
  
"You really think we wouldn't want to get the most out of a weeks long training camp for our students." Aizawa shook his head. "We'll be running some infield and outfield drills." He lead the teen to a section set up just for Minoru to train in. An actual baseball diamond, with dummies on the various the bases. The trick is that he would be running various defensive drills, without the whole having to catch a ball. He would be using his training balls instead.  
  
"So... how long am I going to have to do these drills...?" The impassive look of Aizawa-sensei's face said quite a bit.  
  
"What do you think, Mineta?"  
  
Minoru sighed, and took his sack of orange balls to the infield. "Right, right. Ask a stupid question." But before he started the drill. "So... after I manage to do the drills... we'll work with a moving target, huh?"  
  
"Why, Mineta, you are smart, aren't you?" Minoru watched as Aizawa-sensei walked off. He wasn't sure if the 1-A home room teacher wasn't brilliant, lazy, or sadistic.

* * *

 

Tomoko Shiretoko, the hero Ragdoll and member of the Search and Rescue group known only as the Wild Wild Pussycats! In fact, she was the Search in the Search and Rescue portion of their team! But...

"Shiiiiino... all you have me doing is keeping track of a bunch of hormonal teenagers and then you tell them to knock it off. It's like dealing with 40 different versions of Ryuko." She was bouncing up and down on her heels. She wasn't bored, but it made her feel like a voyeur.  
  
"I heard that!" Came Ryuko's distant shouting.  
  
"You were supposed too!"  
  
"Girls... ladies, please. We're guiding the lives of young heroes. We're teachers now. Of a sort. And the two of you need to start acting like adults or we'll set a bad example for them!" Shino had to set her foot down. She had to take command. She had to keep Ryuko from ending up on a registry.  
  
"But in my heart, I'm only 18, Shino!" Ryuko replied, looking about as indignant as she could. Shino gave her a heard stare, and brought up the video evidence.  
  
'Don't worry, cutie! It's not just my brain you can wash.' The Ryuko on the screen said to the purple haired boy with the expressionless face.  
  
'I think I need an adult.' Was Hitoshi Shinso's reply.  
  
"... well..." Ryuko looked from side to side as another was brought up, the blonde member of the Wild Wild Pussycats talking with a redhead.  
  
'So... what else about you is hard?' Ryuko had a sly grin. The young man looked at her with horror.  
  
'You're old enough to be my mother.' Was Eijiro Kirishima's reply, that sent Ryuko scurrying away.  
  
"... don't remind me! Boys can be so cruel!" Ryuko feigned innocence!  
  
THWAP!  
  
"Ack! SHINO!" The leader of the Wild Wild Pussycats had actually hit her! With a damn newspaper... like she was a cat...!  
  
"You're my friend, Ryuko. My team mate, my partner. And while I know you have issues with romance, maybe focusing on someone closer to your age would be... less problematic. Like... like..." She had to turn the blonde's amorous attentions elsewhere, lest issues she didn't want to deal with would come up.  
  
Bless Ryuko's heart, but she could be a real handful.  
  
"Why not Kamui Woods?" Tomoko suggested, which Ryuko quickly dismissed.  
  
"Kamui Woods? Please, everyone knows he has a thing for Mt. Lady. I know what they get up too!"

* * *

 

He had avoided them for the last couple days. Even on the hours long bus ride he didn't even talk to them. Not that he talked to anyone really. He was in a fugue like state, the pink cottony fluff of how the world was supposed to work!

He was Katsuki Bakugo, the Going Nuclear Hero: GROUND ZERO! And he did not missing great big flags as his two best friends since he started high school developing feelings for him!  
  
But he did. He had. It was so unlike him.  
  
How was this possible? This was more unlikely then him losing that first Battle Trial. Or not taking the top spot in the Entrance Exam.  
  
... and both of those did happen, though. Izuku Midoriya took his top spot and managed to make a fool of him.  
  
But not as big a fool as he felt that day. He wanted to talk to Raccoon Eyes and Shitty Hair... from his point of view, they were making bedroom eyes at each other. How could he have been so blind? To miss something so obvious in hind sight.  
  
He was so focusing on the biggest mistake he ever made, not understanding how his friends actually felt that he didn't notice the two presences joining him.  
  
Great. The two people he didn't want to talk to right now. Not while he was sorting out his... thoughts.  
  
"Hey, Katsuki..." Racco... Mina said, sitting to his left. He barely reacted, just a grumbled hn. "Yeah... I think all three of us messed up that day."  
  
Shi... Eijiro was on his right, placing an arm around his shoulder. "Mina's right... we kinda... we should've been honest with each other at the start." The faux red head added.  
  
"Guys... Eijiro... Mina... I..." he wasn't good at this, he couldn't do this. Talking about his feelings? This wasn't something that Katsuki Bakugo did! "You're both my best friends... you're... we're the Bakusquad and right now... right now I'm looking to be the best hero I can be! ... I..."  
  
He needed to look somewhere, anywhere but his right or his left.  
  
"... I wasn't a very good friend to Midoriya. I was... I was a little shit in middle school. Instead of being his friend after he came back, I turned into his bully." He wasn't going to... not in front of them.  
  
"I get it, Katsuki. You want to prove to everyone that you're not a jerk." Was Mina's reply, as she rested her head on his shoulder. "I can respect that."  
  
"So can I. It takes a real man to admit his mistakes." Eijiro added.  
  
"I just feel like I disappointed the both of you. That I don't... I'm not looking for any of that right now!" He let out a sigh. "Listen... I'm... I'm not good at this whole... I don't wear my heart on my sleeve, you know."  
  
"Snrk. I think I disagree, Katsuki." Mina giggled, looking up at him. He frowned, he wanted to lash out at her and yell at her and...  
  
"God damn it, Mina... you know what I mean! I'm... trying to open up here. I'm just... I don't want to hurt either of you like I did Midoriya. He was practically my brother and I just..." He paused, he took a deep breath. "I'm just saying, right now, at this point in my life? I'm not looking for a romantic partner. But... I don't want to lose either of you."  
  
"What... you think I was going to drop you just because you're being honest? Nah, I try to live my life with masculine fortitude. And sometimes, that's admitting you have a crush on your best friend." Eijiro said. "Today is today. Tomorrow is tomorrow. I like you, Katsuki. I like you a lot. And if the only way your going to like me is as a friend, well... that's not so bad."  
  
"I can accept that too. Better if I can keep my boys as my friends then not at all." Mina added. "Bakusquad forever?"  
  
The other two agreed wholeheartedly, looking up into the night sky and seeing all that the Milky Way had to offer. There was a few minutes of silence, as the three lie in the grass, looking up into infinity.  
  
"Hey, Ejiro?" Mina asked, looking over to the redhead past the blonde. She was pointing to a pale, pink spec in the star field. "Remember when you asked? That's the one... right there. That pale pink dot."  
  
"... didn't we just agree not to keep secrets from each other?" Katsuki asked. And this looked like a secret.  
  
"Oh, well..." Mina shrugged. "I'm an alien princess from a far away world hiding out on Earth to avoid the horrible fate my evil uncle has planned for me."  
  
The blonde looked at the pink skinned girl, dumbfounded, before turning to Eijiro who shrugged.  
  
"Sorry, Katsuki... but it's all true. You could say that Mina is truly out of this world." He paused for a moment. "As in she's from the other side of the galaxy."  
  
... ... ... "... what?"


	52. Issue 47

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue 47  
  
Some would call the Tick... a mad lunatic! Deranged moron that was a danger to himself and others! Yet others would call the Tick one of the greatest super heroes that ever lived. A hero that asked for nothing but a smile from those he rescued! Who would go into dangerous situations with nothing but a cutlery themed battlecry! Who would wax poetic about the true nature of justice and righteousness!  
  
"HUZZAH! In this never ending war on crime, I, THE TICK, will endeavor to encourage my erstwhile allies, that deuteragonist duo dispensing Japanese Justice judiciously, GIGANTIGAL and TREEMAN!" The Tick exclaimed as he made the leap from the building to join the two professional heroes, who just stared at the Man Man of Mustafu.  
  
"... do you hear yourself talk?" Mt. Lady asked, having heard that entire speech from the Tick as he arrived. The Tick, standing tall looked at the blonde woman in the horned mask.  
  
"Ha! Just the encouragement I need to hear, Gigantigal! Who's ready to go beat down this posse of perverted purveyors of pornographic periodicals?" He looked at the two, who looked at each other.  
  
"We're... waiting for some of our... allies. Others that had been... featured in..." Kamui Woods sighed. Was he going to say it? Did he have to say it?  
  
"You mean others have been besmirched by this dastardly deed done by that most evil villain, Chairface Chippendale? Egads! Does his avarice and lust know no bounds!?" He held a fist up, shaking it! "I SAAAAAAAY NAAAAAAAY! No longer shall a heroine have her virtue impounded for cheap thrills!"  
  
He paused, noticing that the other two were looking at him, bug eyed.  
  
"... ... ... how long are we going to wait?" He asked, nervously laughing. He was doing that thing again, where he got worked up over the very idea of fighting a problem head on to stop some perilous plot!  
  
"A few more minutes at least..." Was the wood quirk users reply.  
  
"Well, I think Introductions would be a great way to break the ice! I'll go first!" He posed again, sticking his chest out and holding his balls fists on his hips. "I, of course, am the MIGHT TICK! That most munificent master of magnanimity!"  
  
He was smiling... and it was large and bright.  
  
"... do you always have to alliterate when you talk? Every sentence I've heard you speak has it." Now it was the Tick's turn to look dumbfounded for a change, staring at Mt. Lady.  
  
"I have no idea what you're talking about."

* * *

She flipped back onto her feet after she fell for the brunette's feint that lead into a hip toss. She knew that Ochako and Pony spent their work study week with the same pro hero, Gun Head, the Battle Hero! She asked the blonde American what their work week covered, and goodly portion of it was martial arts training.  
  
"How is such a thing possible?" Her partner in this two on two sparring session was Ojiro Mashirao. The two classes mixed and facing each other. Like Itsuka Kendo, he too spent a portion of his youth learning various different fighting styles, honed and mastered over a period measured in years.  
  
Pony Tsunotori and Ochako Uraraka were more then capable of holding their own, together, against the far more experienced teens. She found herself thinking the same. How was such a thing possible? Was the Battle Hero just that good a teacher? Were Ochako and Pony combat savants and prodigies?  
  
It didn't hurt that the girls clicked together as well as they did, they must have kept up their training and sparring, learning how to cover the other's weaknesses. it made the duo incredibly adept at this two on two sparring session that the two homeroom teachers put them through!  
  
"They're a lot better then I would have given either of them credit during the sport's festival..." Itsuka said to her partner, as they barely managed to dodge the brunette. Between Zero Gravity and Horn Cannon, Ochako made for a rather skilled and adept projectile! She lacked weight, but maintained mass and once up to speed, it didn't matter.  
  
it was enough to make a physicist somewhere cry hot, bitter tears.  
  
"It almost makes me feel bad for turning down the Battle Hero's offer..." Ojiro agreed, nodding. "This is worse then fighting Eraserhead!"  
  
"The numbers are even, but their teamwork is impeccable. Mashirao, I don't think this is a fight we can win." Itsuka said, but she saw the tail'd blonde grin at her.  
  
"Perhaps, but let's Plus Ultra and win anyway!"  
  
She couldn't argue with that logic!

* * *

"Feeling better, Midoriya?" The moss headed boy missed out most of yesterday's training, as he sat down with Aizawa-sensei. Izuku looked over his home room teacher, frowning.  
  
"Is that supposed to be a joke, Sensei?" He got punched, right in the groin just yesterday and all they wanted to ask was if he was feeling better.  
  
"Of course not, Midoriya. I had my sense of humor surgically removed, years ago." Was the haggard looking man's reply. "Anyway, on to these notes from your field training. According to Gran Torino's notes, you have are, and I quote, 'a high strung neurotic moron with a martyr complex.' However, he adds that your enhancement quirk is quite capable of doing much, especially with your discovery of ... what did you call it?"  
  
"I call it Tension. My quirk... it enhances my body and it's functions. Put it in my legs and I run faster. Put it in my arm and I hit harder. Put it in my skin and it's more durable. Put it in my nerves, and I react faster." He had no reason to lie to the Erasure Hero. A half lie, at best.  
  
"Yes, and you refer to your defensive technique as Cocoon and you managed to figure out a way to get more out of your quirk by a technique you call Full Cowl, no?"  
  
"That about sums up my arsenal, if you can call it that. Full Cowl allows me to let my body use more power by pooling it all over instead of just focusing in say my arm or leg. My costume is reinforced specifically to help contain the awesome forces my quirk allows me access to." Qurik analyzing was fun as a hobby, but not so fun when someone just as good was analyzing yours.  
  
"Hn. That's a thing I'm not to sure out, Midoriya. I find it odd that you refer to these as techniques. It's a very interesting way to phrase things. I know in your file it says you're a late bloomer, but... hn. Forget it. Let's move on to your issues, what we'll be trying to work on. You said that you figured out..." Aizawa looked at his notes, then over to Midoriya.  
  
"It was All Might's idea to name it the Kansas City Shuffle..., as I swap between my three main techniques... and perhaps if I develop any more." It was clever, it was smart, it was probably the right thing to do.  
  
"Of course. What we're going to be focusing on is..." The man hmmmm'd as he figured out how to voice it. "As everyone saw during the sport's festival, you're capable of close to mid range combat. I want to see if we can increase that to long range combat. See if we can't get you to do an airburst with a punch or kick or... yes, even a finger flick. During combat, on the fly, and every time."  
  
Izuku looked at him. He could only imagine how this was going to go... how they would train this up. What torture you could be facing.  
  
"Or..." The pro hero stated.  
  
"Or?!" Izuku asked hopefully.  
  
"Or we figure out how to get your strength enhancement to go from being short bursts into something that could work with heavy lifting." That didn't sound at all enjoyable.  
  
"We can do the former!" He replied much too quickly.

* * *

"And on that fateful day, in Reno, Nevada... truths were discovered! That Gambling is unhealthy that dolphins could go bad! And that fish!? Why, fish were magnetic!" The Tick was regaling that time he fought his arch-nemesis! The Fin... or Monsieur Smarty Pants.  
  
"... ... ... dolphins can hold their breath for like 15 minutes. You were in that pool for 20. how... how are you still alive?" Kamui Woods had heard a lot of whoppers in his time. But this... the sincerity in which the Tick had told the story of that time he faced the Fin...  
  
"... that's what you're getting out of this? He just said fish were magnetic!?" Mt. Lady was having nothing of this. The fact that this was taking way to long. Of course, it was the Tick that knew the most of this... Chairface Chippendale but his stories... his stories were horrible.  
  
He fought an evil dolphin. He was tossed into orbit by a clown and survived rentry. He fought off a cadre of Swiss Mercenaries. The list went on and on and on and on and she couldn't take it any longer!  
  
"ALRIGHT! Who's ready to kick some low life ass!" And from the roof tops came one half of the pair that was helping Mt. Lady and Kamui Woods. The Rabbit Hero: Mirko! She too was featured in these disgusting abominable comics! "I'm ready to found some degenerate into the ground! It's bad enough for a reporter to ask: Miss Mirko, just how much of a rabbit are you like? But to find out that someone took a horrible joke like that and run with!?" She slammed a fist into her palm. She was about ready to bust some heads!  
  
"Excellent! We're now joined by the Royal Rabbit!" The Tick exclaimed, as the Rabbit hero turned to face the large vigilante, her eyes narrowing.  
  
"... that's not my name." Mirko replied, frowning.  
  
"... are you certain...?"

* * *

Project: Vigilante was Mei Hatsume's most ambitious project yet! It was secretive as all hell, but it would have to be. Her friends, while they were going to be heroes... the fact of the matter was, she was inspired! Access to their quirks registrations and... maaaaaybe some extra legal looking into medical records...  
  
It didn't matter! Surely, she thought that Izuku was the one that was going to cause her brain go onto over drive and become a monster that she would have to deal with, but no... it was everyone at that lunch table and some of the others that Izuku communicated.  
  
The stoic Shoto Todoroki. The outgoing Eijiro Kirishima. Even the rambunctious Pony Tsunotori and the wild Mina Ashido.  
  
The ideas that she had, they gave her chills as she worked at her drafting desk, designing and drawing and planning and plotting.  
  
"Alright..." She nibbled on the end of her pencil, as she worked at her current project. Railgun and Dark Wine.  
  
Denki Kaminari was easy. Using a pair of copper coils wrapped around his arms, yet hidden in the confines of the costume... he could turn his body into a rail gun and not have to worry about short circuiting!  
  
Minoru Mineta was a bit more difficult. The pop off glue balls on his head didn't replace his hair, they were his hair! And with the one glue ball she had to sample, the industrial grade hair relaxer she was developing would be enough to turn that ball into... well, a not-ball!  
  
In theory. She had to test it, of course, and she couldn't just get the little grape to agree to anything she wanted him to do.  
  
Oh well. Science waited for no woman, as she worked continued to work through her designs. Spotting Tree Leaper and Dive Bomber on the corner of her desk.  
  
"Pony, Pony, Pony... what am I going to do with you and your vigilante friend?" Well, other then design new equipment for them because she was an utter mad woman that needed to be stopped.

* * *

This wasn't summer camp. This was a torture session. An affront to all human decency!  
  
Minoru Mineta had his chin the hot water. He knew about the hot springs, having been at this compound for a period of a week after the Sports Festival and right now, he was never more greatful!  
  
He wasn't the only one. The other boys in the water were trying to relax the aches and pains from their muscles. Minoru could only imagine what the girls were doing, but he wasn't going to do anything. They couldn't hit him if they didn't know what he was thinking!  
  
At least he was doing better then Izuku Midoriya. The green haired young man looked like Aizawa put him through a wringer.  
  
"You alright, Midoriya?" He asked from his position. He didn't feel like moving. His legs burned and his arms hurt, but he was finally developing some kind of stamina... as well as being able to hit the target!  
  
"Not really, Mineta..." The relatively taller teen stated, with a sigh. "Aizawa-sensei wants to see how far I can push my quirk. If I can turn forceful blows into..." He sighed.  
  
"You know that trick I pull where I flick someone and they go flying?" He had, actually. Everyone probably saw the way it worked during the battle trial.  
  
Just a small flick was enough to send a terrible titan like Tenya Iida flying.... Minoru nodded.  
  
"He wants me to be able to do that... on demand! It's not easy and I don't think it works the same way as it used too. Now that I have more precision over my quirk, I'm not sure I can put the power necessary into my fingers to get to work that way. Or at least not without my reinforced gloves." Izuku explained to Minoru.  
  
"You're probably looking at it the wrong way, Midoriya. Hear me out. Maybe you should save your arms for fighting close up, right? That sprawl and brawl that you're good at! You following what I'm saying?" Minoru replied.  
  
"Yeah, but Aizawa-sensei says I need some actual range and after I beat Katsuki, they know I can increase my range." Minoru sighed at Izuku's assumption of what he was talking about. How can someone so smart be so dumb sometimes?  
  
"If that's what you think I'm talking about, then you weren't following at all. Our teacher wants you to get range? Then use your legs, which are about 3 times stronger then your arms! Maybe you can kick hard enough to create those wind blasts you did with those finger flicks!" It did the grape hued lad some good to see it dawn upon his friend just what he was talking about!  
  
"That... that might just work!"

* * *

"Say it! SAY IT YOU BASTARD! SAY MY NAME!" Mirko screamed, as she did her best to throttle the Big Blue Bug of Justice, who tried to do his best to give into her demand, his lips trembling, trying to form the syllables!  
  
"Mmmmmmmmrrrrrooyal Raaaabbit!" ... ... ... the dark skinned woman let out a cry of primal fury, before picking up the American hero and proceeded to drive him into the ground, head first.  
  
"... ... ... shouldn't we stop her?" Mt. Lady asked Kamui Woods. The two had been at it for a few minutes now, as the Rabbit Hero was quite adamant that her name was Mirko, not Royal Rabbit.  
  
"Do you want to get between that? I don't think she can hurt him... despite her best efforts." He was watching Mirko continously pummel the Tick. "Maybe... we should wait until it's out of her system?"  
  
It was then that the fifth member of their little team decided to show up, the peal of a noblewoman's laugh echoing through the alleyway, above the din of Mirko's ineffective punches. Midnight, the R18 Hero! She quirked an eyebrow as she approached Mt. Lady and Kamui woods.  
  
"How long have they been doing that?" She asked, as Mirko was busy ruining the pavement with imprints of the Tick's face into the pavement.  
  
"Ten mintues, at least. Mirko wasn't appreciative of the Tick's nicknaming habit." Kamui Woods stated. "I didn't realize that you were helping with this mess. Did they get to you too?"  
  
Midnight sighed. "My publisher contacted me! Turned out that they were undercutting my own official H-Manga sales." She slumped as she sighed. "This is a terrible world we live in when even a hero can't make use of her assets any more!"

* * *

_After the first couple of days... I think there were a few false starts, but with Aizawa and Kan teaching us, as well as the Wild, Wild Pussycats... I don't know about Aizawa's focus on range combat, but it seemed to be working out for me. And Minoru's suggestion that I use my legs? That was brilliant and I think it was working!_  
  
On the other hand... there was something that was bothering me... something about Mandalay's nephew...  
  
Izuku Midoriya watched as Kota ran off. He was empathetic to the kid. He too was a miserable six year old, years and years ago. He turned to Minoru. "You were here for field training, did you ever find out what his problem is?"  
  
Minoru thought about it. "I did... but I'm not... it's complicated. You ever ask yourself why Kota is living with his Aunt?" Then it hit Izuku. Well, that would explain everything.  
  
"Oh..." He felt bad now, that he was just... angry or bothered by the kid. They did have a lot in common, after all.  
  
"It's worse then that, actually! Turns out his parents were the hero team Water Hose." ... oh.  
  
"But... they saved that village from a villain...?" Izuku exclaimed. Sure, it was a horrible thing tha happened, but if it wasn't for their sacrifice... who knew what would have happened to that village.  
  
"Yeah, but think about the way he looks at it. He thinks his parents would have rather been heroes instead of his parents and then they died. He learned about it from a news broadcast." With the new information that Minoru gave him, Izuku got up.  
  
"Don't wait up for me, I'm going to go talk to him." He stood up and headed out.  
  
"But why? If the ball puncher wants to be a miserable little bastard, then let him?" Minoru called out.  
  
"Because I was a miserable little bastard, too, Mineta. I know what he's going through." And he followed after the little kid. Minoru sighed, before standing up and following after Izuku.  
  
"The things I do..." He managed to catch up to Izuku quickly enough.  
  
"Mineta...?" The green haired teen was surprised.  
  
"You're right, you're right. Little ball puncher he may be, but... doesn't deserve abject misery." They quickly caught up with Kota.  
  
"Hey..." Izuku started, as he approached the kid. "You mind if I sit next to you...?" He asked, yet sat next to him just the same.  
  
"Why do you care?" Kota asked, his knees drawn in tight to his chest. "No body cares. Not you, and not the grape! You're just faking sympathy. Aunt Shino doesn't care, either! If she did, she wouldn't have invited all of you here! And my parents? They cared the least for me! They chose a bunch of strangers over me!" The kid's eyes were welling up with tears, streaming down his cheeks.  
  
"You don't really believe that, Kota... you're angry. You think your parents abandoned you and it's just convenient to be angry at them." Izuku sat down next to Kota. "I lost my dad to a villain, too, when I was your age. But he wasn't a hero... and I didn't find out about it on the news, either." Kota looked at him with big wet eyes.  
  
"... w-w-what?"  
  
"I lost my dad right in front of me, because he thought he could go get someone else because he was a reasonably healthy adult. I never got angry at him, though. He wanted to do what was right, and I like to think that I can live up to his example." He looked down to Kota. "You don't hate your parents, you hate that they're gone. They didn't choose strangers over you, they chose you. It's why they became heroes in the first, Kota. I know it hurts, and I'm not gonna lie and say it gets easier, but you should focus on the good things, because they loved you and they would have never left you, given the choice." Izuku was crying. Kota was crying. Even Minoru, standing off to the side found himself crying too. This was all too much!  
  
"Well, isn't this cute!" The voice came out of the darkness and into the light stepped a tall, blonde man, heavily muscled with an artificial eye. "BUT IT'S WRONG!" And he charged at the trio, something in the distance exploding!  
  
_'Everyone make it back to the compound!'_ Mandalay's voice echoed in their ears. _'We're under attack!'_  
  
It was only Izuku's quick thinking that allowed him to grab Kota and leap into the air, avoiding the attack from the blonde villain! Izuku could only hope that the others could hold their own!

* * *

When the first explosion happened, Pony and Ochako were out along the tree line, chatting to themselves. It had been an interested few days and they were managing to... they managed to impress Itsuka Kendo and Ojiro Mashirao. Who knew how smart signing up with Gun Head really was?  
  
But that was neither here nor there, now that they heard Mandalay's message that they were under attack! But what they saw step out of the portal... they were not prepared for!  
  
"Hiiiiiii!" The girl was their age, but she was dressed in a school uniform that neither of the heroes in training recognized. The boy, on the other hand, had a a glass dome housing his over sized brain! "I'm Toga... and this is my boyfriend, Charlie!" The boy gulped, looked like he wasn't as excited about being the girl's boyfriend as she was!  
  
And there was a robot dog with them, too! Because why not?!  
  
"Oh, yeah! Please feel free to run screaming, it makes it oh so much more fun when I cut them up if they run!" The boy, Charlie, she had called him looked over to Toga.  
  
"Toga! Mister Chippendale said we aren't supposed to kill anyone." The girl looked at him, shocked and aghast.  
  
"I'm not going to kill them, Charlie! Just cut them up and stab them bunches! I Know just where to stick 'em so they won't die!" She turned back to the heroes in training, just to see Ochako come flying at her, slamming into the stab happy school girl!  
  
"Hey! That isn't fair! We were talking!" Charlie shouted!  
  
"It's not a free action, Brainchild!" Pony shouted, as she charged at the evil super genius. "FOOOOOORK!"  
  
"... wait a second..." He was distracted, just enough that the full effects of Horn Cannon hit him and hit him hard, as she was sent flying after his girlfriend!  
  
If there was one thing that Gun Head taught Pony and Ochako was to never hesitate! She quickly caught up with her brunette girlfriend!  
  
"You okay, Ochako!?" Pony called out, spotting Ochako already getting to her feet.  
  
"I'm alright, Pony... just a little banged up!" She looked around. Both the kid with the brain and the girl with the knife seemed to be gone. "I think those two were with the same group that attacked the USJ!"  
  
The League of Villains was attacking the training camp! There was another explosion!  
  
"We have to find those two, before they escape, Pony! Or find someone else to hurt!" Ochako said to Pony. The blonde nodded in agreement, as they ran off towards the latest explosion.

* * *

One moment, Fumikage was there... the next... he was gone, displaced with a pop! The other students that were with him were surprised, as a warp portal not unlike the USJ invasion was right behind him, a man in a colorful coat and top hat standing behind where Fumikage was.  
  
"Greetings, children. My name is Mister Compress." He held up a marble. "Here's your bird-headed friend. Would you like to find out what happens if I were to crush it...?" The kids were actively scared, not knowing that Compress had no intention of killing any of the children. Chairface put out a great argument about not doing too much damage to the kids, not if they didn't want to be hounded by the heroes.  
  
But he was a trained performer, and he could make them think whatever he wanted!  
  
And then a green blur slammed into him!  
  
"Ahahahaha! I am SPINNER, villain! And I refuse to let you cut down these flowers of heroes before they bloom!" The green blur turned out to be a large pink haired lizard man, dressed in shabby Hero Killer Stain cosplay! He hefted a large sword, that seemed to made of smaller blades, held together with baling wire and duct tape and a belt. "HAVE AT THEE MOST FOUL VILLAIN! KNIIIFE!"  
  
The students blinked as they watched this occur. It was almost comical!  
  
But on the other hand, the self named Spinner was more then capable of giving a good show against the super villain, defending the school children! "Run, sproutlings! Run to grow into strong trees of heroism!"  
  
He really didn't need to tell the students twice, and they ran back to the compound!

* * *

The Bakusquad was in good form! Even when the monsters started to attack, right after the explosion... it didn't matter, the three of them knew each other and knew each other well, as they managed to fight off the monsters.  
  
These weren't Pixie-Bob's earth devils, they were recognizable. Noumu... just like from the USJ! Just like in Hosu! This could only mean one thing... the League of Villains was attacking once again! And it also meant that Katsuki Bakugo had to work overtime to make sure that Icyhot didn't get his ass handed to him by the claws of these brain exposed ass clowns!  
  
"Move your ass, Icyhot! We can't fight these fucks and protect you at the same time!" Katsuki told the half and half bastard. Sure, he could go and give him a cold glare all he wanted, but didn't change the fact of the matter!  
  
One of the monsters chasing them was blasted into the air!  
  
"You kids alright!?" It was Pixie-Bob! With Ragdoll alongside of her.  
  
"I'm fine." Shoto replied, having almost been clipped by the pillar of earth.  
  
"We're fine, too." Katsuki was speaking for the Bakusquad, but he knew what Mina and Eijiro were capable of and knew just how they were feeling.  
  
Ragdoll and Pixie-Bob didn't get a chance to say much more, as another horde of Noumu monsters came running out of the woods... only to blasted with a wall of blue fire burning them into piles of glowing ash.  
  
"Hn. Seems you heroes have your work cut out for you, don't you?" It was the same scarred man from Shoto's fight with Stain. Dabi...  
  
"My goodness! MY HERO!" ... ... ... the moment was dead, when Pixie-Bob noticed the tall, heavily burned man, who looked over and took a step back as the earth manipulating heroine practically had hearts in her eyes! "Shoto... you going to introduce me to your friend, here!?"  
  
She barely got the words out when she got bapped by Ragdoll. "Ryuko! Now is not the time to be flirting!" She went to berate her blonde team member as a one of those misty portals started to open right behind her.  
  
She barely had time to react when Katsuki yelled at her and one of his explosions disrupted the warp tunnel. That was all the proof he needed. It was the League of Villains! They needed to find a teacher! But why would they be after Ragdoll? He needed to keep an eye on her.  
  
As for Pixie-Bob, he looked over to see her talking with the flaming asshole that showed up out of the blue. Gushing about his dark features and aesthetic, how he made the best out of a bad thing. He looked uncomfortable, like he wanted to leave.  
  
Also the half and half bastard was glaring daggers at him. So how bad he possibly be? Anyone that Icyhot hated was immediately alright in Katsuki's book!

* * *

Izuku Midoriya passed Kota over to Minoru. "Take him and run! I'll cover your escape! NOW GO!" He didn't look back, just charged at the villain. He recognized Muscular. The same villain that killed Water Hose. Probably wanting to go and kill and their kid for revenge for the loss of his eye.  
  
The worst villains were all the same. Spree killers that were in love with how evil they were. Muscular was not different from Jacknife... though, save for his razor fingers, Jacknife was just a mere man.  
  
Muscular's muscle enhancement had Izuku beat, even as he covered himself in his Cocoon and Full Cowl! Even using what little enhancement he could risk from Tension to help him dodge attacks that were changing the landscape itself!  
  
"You can't beat me kid! You don't have the fortitude or the strength to do it! And once I left you battered and broken, I'm gonna pop that grape and crush that kid! What do you have to say to that!?" The blonde villain was taunting him. He really was no better then Jacknife, but at least Jacknife was clever in his taunting, so long ago.  
  
"There's not to say! Because I'm not going to lose to the likes of you!" Their fists met in an echoing boom and it was only the reinforcement of his arm from Cocoon and Full Cowl that his arm didn't snap like a dry twig! A pressure wave was created from the force of the impact, causing more of the cliff to collapse and flattened what little trees were around and it pushed Izuku back.  
  
Muscular was stronger then him! But this wasn't a fight he could be clever with, either! The only way to win this fight was to power through! He let more of the power of One for All flow through him, as he leapt back, only to change direction as he lashed out with a kick, the power of his quirk in his leg!  
  
It created a wall of force, but not only that... it dragged one of the trees behind him via a vacuum shock! A double whammy on the heavily muscled blonde, who was just getting bigger as the fight went longer and used his quirk more and more! He seeed to ignore the wall of forced, and all the tree splintered against his body, but it caused him to take a single step back!  
  
An opening! Izuku could do this! He could win! For Kota... for Minoru... for his dad!  
  
He charged in again, only for a meaty hand to grab his arm and tossed him away like a rag doll!  
  
"I'll give you this much, kid... you're strong, but it ain't gonna matter! Not after I crush you!" The villain taunted.  
  
Izuku lay in a pile of broken trees and cracked earth. He could feel every injury, he could feel everything and it all hurt. He slowly got up.  
  
"There was a point we should've stopped... and we've clearly passed it!" He looked up at the villain, his eyes blazing and a wide smile on his face. "But let's PLUS ULTRA, go beyond... and see what happens!"  
  
If he was going to defeat Muscular, he would have to go past all of his limits! EVERY SINGLE ONE!  
  
Tension.  
  
Full Cowl.  
  
Cocoon.  
  
Full blast and 100%! He let out a scream of fury as he charged, dodging each and every attack thrown his way, got under the monster of man flesh... and slammed his fist right in his sternum!  
  
A brief moment passed, as he first buried itself past the dense muscle fibers and then the explosion happened. The blonde villain was screaming curses as he was launched into the air... higher and higher and higher still until he was nothing more then a small blip on the horizon.  
  
He did it... he won!  
  
_I...it was like some kind of weight was lifted off of me. I finally did for someone... that I couldn't do for myself..._  
  
"Holy shit, Izuku!" Minoru couldn't have gotten far, but fhe couldn't just abandon Izuku either! He saw his friend fight that monster and not only survive, but win! The green haired young man turned to him, thumbs up for both Minoru and Kota on his back.  
  
"No need to thank me... all in a days work..." He was bleeding out of his nose... and his eyes... and then... red foam at the corner of his mouth.  
  
"IZUKU!" Minoru cried out as his friend started fell over and he started to seize!


	53. Annual 4

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Annual 4  
  
It took some convincing on the part of the three other heroes meeting that alley to calm the Rabbit Hero: Mirko down enough that she was no longer uselessly punching the Night Invulnerable Blue Bug of Justice. The Tick was certainly aptly named, if only because he was just as tough as any hard tick any of the other heroes had to deal with.  
  
"Just as well!" The Tick said, cracking his neck once, then twice. "We'll need to forge the greatest bonds of friendship, if we're to face that most nefarious ne'er-do-well, Chairface Chippendale!" The Tick was almost always sincere. It was endearing about the idiot, the way he could say all his made metaphors with a straight face.  
  
"Right now, it seems that his only intermediary for these pornographic periodicals is the The Guy that Looks Just Like Peter Lorre... but we must be wary, for last time, he had the Wingnut Strangler with him. This may require all of my cunning if I'm to lead us into battle against these forces of evil!" He looked around and noticed that the others had already left. "Hey, wait for me!"

* * *

It's a dark and dreary warehouse, but they always were. Weeks of investigation was paying off and the intel they got from the Tick was... helpful at the very least. It's why they were bringing him along, mostly. They didn't have the strength among the four of them to face that... Wingnut Strangler! It... he? Looked strong enough to take on All Might!  
  
"My goodness!" The Tick exclaimed as they peered through the dirty skylight. "It's a veritable who's whom of villainy here! Not only the Guy the Looks Just Like Peter Lorre, but you have the Forehead!" He pointed out the short man who's height was almost entirely his forehead. "And look, right there! Headless Henderson!" He pointed to a man in a suit directing some of the hired thugs and scumbags that... as pointed out by the Tick... had no head. "Egads! The Deadly Nose!" The fourth and final Triggerman was tall and unassuming... save for the pistol barrel he had instead of a regular nose.  
  
The four professional heroes nodded. They had to play. "Thanks, Tick." It was best to treat the Tick like a big dumb dog. It worked out better. Midnight, Kamui Woods, Mt. Lady, and Mirko huddled together.  
  
"So how do we do this? There's your usual thug types, armed... but those gangsters..." Kamui Woods started. He didn't like getting into unknown odds, and if the Guy that looks Just Like Peter Lorre was there, then so would Dean... and who knew what the others were capable of!  
  
No one noticed as the Tick watched the moon slowly rise over the horizon, trailing it with a single finger...  
  
"I could go in and give them a good dose of Somnambulist... unfortunately that won't do much for the fellow without a head... and from what you described Dean..." Midnight's quirk required that you breath it deeply. She wasn't sure the logistics of a man with no head being exposed to her quirk.  
  
Once more, they were too busy planning to see as the Tick licked his finger, and held it up to the breeze, calculating wind speed and trajectory the tried and true way.  
  
"Anyone tries to escape via vehicle... I'll be more then capable of taking them down, just like the first raid." Sometimes it was great being a size changer, especially when you had to pick up and throw cars carrying disgusting trash and their distributors.  
  
The Tick, for his part, stood at the edge of the building, starting to do practice squats... going low and throwing his hands up. Once. Twice. Three times. Repeat.  
  
"And whoever comes out on foot, I'll clobber them!" Mirko seemed a bit too eager to pummel just about anyone she came across, but it seemed she hadn't worked it all out of her system just yet. They had a plan! It was a good one!  
  
Only no one saw as the Tick leapt into the air. What goes up... must come down!  
  
"SPOOOOOOOOOOON!" Right through the skylight!

* * *

Inside the warehouse, all commotion stopped at the sound of the Wild Blue Yonder's battlecry! The four Triggermen knew that cry all too well! Their hire ons for this job... they too would learn to fear the call of SPOON! He came crashing through the skylight, before landing with a mighty crash, rising to his feet slowly, glass raining down around him!  
  
He looked every part of an ancient god coming down from the heaven's to show his wrath in person.  
  
"Oh, wow! I can't believe that actually worked! I can't tell you how much I've been trying to do a three point landing and I finally did it! WAHOO!" And the moment was ruined by his own gushing at his own entrance. The Forehead looked around at the goons and guards.  
  
"What youse idiots doin'? Stop starin' slack jawed and KILL HIM!" He shouted, as said goons drew guns and began to rain fire and fury upon the Big Blue Bug of Justice!  
  
"Oh, Forehead... don't you ever learn? I'm night invulnerable! It'll take more then a bunch of bullets to beat me!" To prove his point, he puffed out his chest as the bullets continued to smash against him, setting off sparks against his indestructible body.  
  
"YOOOOOU IDIOT!" Following through the sky light... was the Rabbit Hero, Mirko! As soon as she touched down, she fired off like... well... a rabbit, bounding to one armed group in a single leap and with a single kick managed to smash the whole lot of them into the wall, cratering it!  
  
Kamui Woods followed soon after, but he was less lucking then the Rabbit Hero, as Headless Henderson charged him, the cranially challenged gangster armed with brass knuckles and packing a pistol of a punch! He managed to dodge to the left, only for the American villain to leave an imprint on a steel beam! A soundless roar seemed to emanate from his opponent, as their fight began a new!  
  
"... waaaaat? The Teeck? Again!?" The Guy that Looks Just Like Peter Lorre was brought out by the commotion from his office. "No, no, no! Thees won't do! DEEEEEEAN!"  
  
And as predicted, the Butterfly Nutcase made himself known, charging at the Tick!  
  
"Nose! Get the goods! We's gonna make our getaway sooner rather then later!" The Goods in this case would be the money. Chairface couldn't care less about the merchandise, but the money? The money was where it was at! The main assassin for the Triggermen nodded, and got right to doing that! Shoving bill after bill into a dufflebag!  
  
He looked up just in time to see Mirko headed towards him! True to quirk and true to name, he fired a shot from his nose, the Rabbit Hero changing direction just in time to dodge the shot, following by a veritable barrage from the Deadly Nose's... well... for lack of a better word? SNOT GUN!  
  
It was Mirko vs the Deadly Nose and the goons! The Tick vs Dean! Kamui Woods vs Headless Henderson!  
  
Meanwhile, on the rooftops, peering though the skylight, Midnight and Mt. Lady were watching as their plan fell apart completely.  
  
"... should we go down there and help?" Mt. Lady may have organized this team up, but it was Midnight that was the senior hero.  
  
"Probably. Your boyfriend seems to be holding his own." Midnight said, nodding as she watched Kamui Woods' brawl with Headless Henderson.  
  
"... my... my boyfriend? What!?" The blonde size changer looked at the R-18 hero, aghast! "... no, no, no! Just because those... disgusting abominations decided to pair me up with him, doesn't mean I have any feelings for him! We just work together!"  
  
The small smile on Midnight's face didn't change.  
  
"We're not!"  
  
It remained, as the other hero narrowed her eyes slightly.  
  
"I know what you're thinking, and you can stop it right now! Not a bit of it is true!"  
  
The smile parted and Midnight's patented noblewoman's laugh filled the air.  
  
"You know what they say, Lady. Denial... isn't just a river in Egypt." She laughed again, before dropping through the skylight herself.  
  
"Boys, boys, boys! You weren't going to have a party and not invite me, were you!?" She said, with a smirk, as she got into it with some of the other goons. Oh, what a thrill it was! The danger! The power! The flirting! The teasing!  
  
She needed to do this more often!

* * *

It had been less then five minutes since the Tick crashed through the skylight and once again, he was making a mockery of his hire ons and comrades! That was honestly to be expected! Only Dean could truly face the Tick on any kind of even heel, but the Tick's allies! The tree man... the rabbit woman... and the harlot!  
  
For the Guy Who Looks Just Like Peter Lorre, this was starting to turn into an embarrassment! As long as the Tick and his allies were hounding Chairface's plans and following his affiliates, they were going to move onto a different hustle or ally with another criminal gang. And what the Guy Who Looks Just Like Peter Lorre heard about the various gangs in Japan, not a single one of them was worth a grain of salt, even those Shi whosits upstarts!  
  
He could only imagine that the giant woman was waiting outside for their getaway, so he would have to be clever about it. Pity.  
  
"Forehead, Nose, Henderson! We make our escape!" He leapt down from the catwalk onto Dean's shoulders. "Double time, Dean!" And the Wingnut Strangler did an over head double hammer blow to the floor! Blasting a hole to the sewers below! The three other Triggermen followed soon after, Forehead and the Deadly Nose laden with their ill gotten gains.  
  
"Cowards! The lot of you!" The Tick shouted, shaking his fist as the five disappeared into the smelly gloom! The Wild Blue Yonder sighed and turned to look at the goons who... with their boss and meal ticket having made their escape quickly surrendered.  
  
With the fighting over, Mt. Lady joined them. ... they got away again, but each hit... hurt the group more and more! The five heroes stood at the edge of the crater created by Dean.  
  
"Do we go after them?" Kamui Woods asked, he really didn't want to go into the sewer. Not only that, they were close by water, he wouldn't be surprised if they had a boat waiting for them. Mt. Lady gave a sigh. Sure, they got more merchandise, but once again... the Triggermen escaped, leaving their hired thugs and goons behind.  
  
"At least we got more of their illicit merchandise." The blonde said with a sigh.  
  
"Don't worry about it! There's always next time, friends! Some day soon, they'll slip up and we'll find just where their printing these periodicals! And what's more! They know we're on to them! It's only a matter of time before they slip up, and we'll be there! To pick up the pieces of their perilous portfolio of criminal art!" The Tick stood tall and proud. "SO SAYS I! THE MIGHTY TICK!"  
  
That was enough to cause Mt. Lady to slump.  
  
"This means we'll have to work with him again, doesn't it?" She asked Kamui Woods, who looked just as dejected.  
  
"Yes... yes it does."


	54. Issue 48

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue 48  
  
For Fumikage Tokoyami... one moment he was chatting with some of his fellow heroes in training. They knew not the burdens that were only his to bear! He didn't have a quirk, he had a demon that lived in his belly, that mocked him at every turn, that whispered sweet nothings of evil into his ear.  
  
'Walk on the grass, no sign tells you want to do!' 'Crosswalks are for chumps!' 'Draw from the stockpile! No one can see you still have legal moves on the tableau!' That last one was the most insidious! There was a special place in the depths of hell for those that would cheat at Solitaire!  
  
He got sidetracked again, his own existential angst, his never ending war on his own dark appetites and the seductive clarion call of his demonic half, he didn't even noticed it when something brushed his shoulder and then... nothingness!  
  
He felt nothing. He sensed nothing. He was aware of nothing at all. The depths of infinity and beyond were his to ponder for all eternity, enlightenment his to grasp and achieve!  
  
As he pondered nothingness and infinity... the universe aged around him and died only to be reborn.  
  
Again. Again. Again, still! Even the useless nattering of Dark Shadow was placed out of his mind, joining the darkness that surrounded him.  
  
It was just himself, in the sea of nothingness, save for a single pin prick of light that only by his meditation and understanding would he proceed, through the black aether that he was suspended it.  
  
It was the light of Nirvana... the Enlightenment that scholars over the aeons had looked to achieve, but had failed. His watered... his beak quivered and he reached out with one hand to touch the sun itself.  
  
... ... ...  
  
And then weightlessness, as he found himself bodily hurled through the air and crashed into something... someone!  
  
But that was out of his mind... everything was... all his understanding... all the knowledge he had gained! He was back in the cursed material realm, his universe destroyed for the last time and his only hope for freedom against his own bitter curse!  
  
"... you alright, Fumi..." The creature of darkness, the obsidian mirror that reflected his own self whispered to him.  
  
"... they stolen from us... something that cannot be quantified... something that cannot be explained... but that which has been taken can never be replaced!" A sweeping gesture pointed to the stranger in the top hat and overcoat, shadows pooling around his limbs.  
  
"Oh, oh, oh! Are we doing this? Is this happening?" Dark Shadow was excited, knowing that finally, Fumikage Tokoyami had reached his limits.  
  
"Too me, Dark Shadow! Let us punish these sinners! SHOW THEM THE ERROR OF THEIR WAYS!" He let out a screech, as he went on a rampage!  
  
Beat.  
  
Beat.  
  
Beat.  
  
Spinner looked around from where he was, opening one eye and seeing as the hero in training rampaged through out the forest, the monsters that the villains brought with them standing no chance against the soliloquizing master of darkness. He didn't need to be told twice that the kid had it handled and it was time to bound away.  
  
The strange Mister Compress had seemed to have already left, anyway!

* * *

The ashes that were a half dozen of the League of Villain's Noumu were still glowing, even as the moment became near comical. The hero Pixie-Bob was a bit too close to their savior, a burned man that Shoto Todoroki knew too well.  
  
His name was Dabi, and more, he was one of Stain's insane cultists, the same with the lizard man, Spinner. Shoto could only guess that the sword wielder wasn't far away, if Dabi was here. But they weren't with the League. If they were, why would they be attacking them?  
  
But that didn't change the fact that they were disciples of the Hero Killer.  
  
"... what are you doing here, Dabi?" The burned man turned to the two toned teen, needing the distraction from Pixie-Bob's gushing.  
  
"That's a really good question, Shoto." It still disturbed the youngest son of the Number 2 pro hero that a killer like Dabi would know his name. He researched the criminal after that night in Hosu. He had a body count. Two, maybe three killings that he had committed, before he found the Hero Killer.  
  
Evidence was circumstantial, and the victims were just as villainous as the burned wielder of blue flames, but two wrongs did not make a right.  
  
"What does it matter, Icyhot? Did you see how he slaughtered those monsters?" Of course Katsuki Bakugo would respect strength like that. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Dabi pull his arm away from the blonde Pussycat, and take another step back.  
  
"Imagine that, a killer good at killing." Shoto dismissed the ash blonde, a creeping look of horror on Pixie-Bob's face.  
  
"Is... is that true? Are... are you a killer?" She looked at Dabi, tears welling up in her eyes as no doubt the image her heroic savior was forever tainted. The burned man shrugged.  
  
"Sorry, but I can't change who I am, hero. Better to be honest about myself then try to hide." The smirk on his face, Shoto could tell that Dabi was enjoying this, having broken Pixie-Bob's heart.  
  
They both carried the exact same look of shock when she glomped onto him.  
  
"Of course you can't change who you are! It's because you haven't found a good, kindhearted woman, like me, to affect your life!"  
  
Oh, so it's turned into a farce, of course, because why wouldn't it?

* * *

Skippy was more then just an ordinary dog. Charles was proud of the fact that Skippy was a super powered mechanical mutt, capable of pulling the bumpers off of cars if he so asked his powerful pup!  
  
And beyond that, he still made for a great mount, as the two of them were riding Skippy. It was bothering him, in more then one way how Himiko Toga had her arms wrapped around him... how hot her breath felt on the back of his neck, even through her mask.  
  
Toga scared him in ways he never felt were possible. Worse! He thought she was plenty scary before she declared himself her boyfriend! And then she had to go and drag him along with this rough up the heroes in training so that everyone would know not to mess with the League of Villains.  
  
How do you deal with a hack happy harridan like Himiko? He gave an involuntary shudder and tried to focus on something else.  
  
"Are they still gaining on us?" He finally asked, knowing that the heroes were probably in the canopy, following the duo.  
  
"I can't see them, Charlie... but..." Himiko was looking up and looking away. "That doesn't mean a thing, does it?" Oh, what a horrible night for a curse! And then his phone rang. Because why not take it with you when you go fighting superheroes? Put his earpiece in and answered it.  
  
"Hey, Sport!" Oh, it was his father. It must be the crack of dawn back in The City.  
  
"Dad... you're up rather early. Busy day ahead of you?" He felt those arms around him tighten.  
  
"Hey Mister Charlie's Dad! I'm Himiko!" The blonde behind him shouted.  
  
"Charles... who was that?" Great, now Dad knew about her and... may as well just up and say it.  
  
"That's uh... that's Himiko, Dad... my uh... my girlfriend." Even saying it, he had to suppress a full body shudder. He didn't want to show any weakness to Toga. Showing weakness to the blonde seemed like a disaster in the making.  
  
"Really? Oh ho! A real chip off the old block! And here I was worried that you wouldn't do well in Japan." There was a brief pause. "Awww, shoot. Sorry, kiddo! But I gotta get going to work. Don't have too much fun!"  
  
"Don't worry, Dad..." Charles had to resist rolling his eyes. "Tell Mom and Amelia I miss them!"  
  
"Will do, son! And maybe when we get a chance, we can face time, the whole family and you're new friend." Oh, how Charles didn't want that at all. His father hung up and he pulled the ear piece out.  
  
"Oh! We're moving so fast, Charlie! Next thing you know, you'll be introducing me to your mother and father and we'll have family fun game nights!" She was hugging him tighter, something he didn't really want. Himiko was five pounds of crazy in a one pound sack. It was... something else to hear her talk about the people she killed with absolute glee!  
  
But for now? For now he'll try to stay on her good side and not having her stick him with the knives she carried.

* * *

"What do we do?" Kota was shouting, after Izuku Midoriya fell over. Minoru wasn't sure how to answer the kid, but then... he remembered his first day here, how Mandalay and Ragdoll spent he better part of the afternoon teaching him first aid!  
  
"We have to stabilize him!" He grabbed his belt and pulled it out and somehow managed to get it into the green haired young man's mouth! That would keep him from biting or swallowing his tongue... There really wasn't much they could do, though... a few of his glue balls could cushion Izuku's head, which he used! But other then that, they just had to wait.  
  
Several tense minutes passed... and finally, the herky jerky movements subsided as Izuku's seizure passed. A minute longer and the purple glue balls dissolved, with how Minoru was feeling, he was surprised they lasted as long as they did! He went to Izuku, and looked at the other young man, who's eyes were wide open, unfocused, but his breathing was stable.  
  
Minoru snapped his fingers. Once. Twice. No response, save a trail of blood flowing from his nose. Already his mind was reeling with what could have possibly happened. He was concussed, most certainly... but would it be possible that he suffered a stroke alongside his seizure? He could only rationalize so much... Izuku pushed himself past his limits to protect the both of them... what could they do to repay that?  
  
"Kota..." Minoru started, as he placed one of Izuku's arms around his shoulders. "Get the other side... we're going... we're going to take him to the compound."  
  
"But what about the villains?" The boy was in tears, but did as told.  
  
"We'll burn that bridge when we get there... maybe if we're lucky... by the time we get back... the day will be saved by someone else... or he'll come too... or any other happenstance of good fortune." Izuku was a lot heavier then he looked, Minoru noticed, but he wasn't so heavy that two of them couldn't drag his senseless body behind them.  
  
"You don't sound so sure..."  
  
"C'mon, Kota..." He tried to put on his best good guy hero smile. "I'm a super hero. I've never been more sure of anything in my life! It's gonna be okay. It's all gonna be okay." He wasn't sure what was worse, really.  
  
Lying to a little kid... or lying to himself.


	55. Issue 49

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue 49  
  
Tsuyu Asui was hopping through the trees. She didn't have any of her hero gear, but she had her super strong legs and super strong tongue and right now, she was carrying Neito Monoma and Kyoka Jiro on her back.  
  
"Faster please, we need to go faster!" The blonde haired prick from 1-B was shouting, even as they were chased by the black clad man monster, they could even hear him muttering and mumbling out his hunger and how much he wanted to do nothing more then rip the flesh from their bones.  
  
Also the way he elongated his teeth and managed to send them... there was a limit to how fast that Tsuyu could go and a limit to how many of the blades Kyoka could smack out of the air with her earjacks. And of course, the prick couldn't do anything but complain as his copy quirk, in his own words, didn't work well with mutation quirks.  
  
Useless.  
  
And then Kyoka missed a bladed tooth that caught Tsuyu... she tripped, she tumbled, they fell! A tangle of limbs and clothing as they crashed to the forest floor, the cannibalistic villain approaching them, slowly and still muttering and mumbling to himself.  
  
"The boy first... yes, yes... then frog legs..." He walked with a jittery gait, twitching with each step and then...  
  
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" Hurtling through the forest was a shadow, carrying aloft a certain crow headed young man, who was currently screaming at the top of his lungs!  
  
The living shadow slammed into the black clad super villain, wrapping around him and proceeding to slam him against the trees and ground and rocks, as Fumikage Tokoyami seethed, watching his handiwork, looking out of the corner of his eye and spotting the other three.  
  
"Asui, Jirou, Monoma... you three alright?" He was pointedly ignoring how Dark Shadow sent the villain hurtling threw the air.  
  
"I'm fine, ribbit..." Tsuyu replied... "And how many times do I have to tell you, call me Tsuyu!" Was this the time to bring this up? Probably not, but what else was she going to do?  
  
"I think I hurt leg..." Kyoka replied, as the three managed to get back to their feet. Neito rolled his eyes, before offering her a shoulder. This was always how it went, wasn't it?  
  
"What about you, Tokoyami... are you alright?" Tsuyu asked, noticing that Dark Shadow was practically playing with the villain now.  
  
"I'm fine. Better then fine." He turned to the display, as his quirk laid the villain out like a rag doll. "Dark Shadow! Are you done? Have you had your fun?" The living shadow soon came back to him.  
  
"I'm done with this one." It replied. "Don't wanna break all my new toys." And with that... he was off once more!  
  
"So... uh... anyone else notice how Tokoyami was acting?" Kyoka asked, as they saw the trail of destruction he was leaving behind.  
  
"... ... ... is he normally that scary?" Neito asked, not knowing the shadow users that well.  
  
"... normally he's a lot more melodramatic, that was rather on point for him." Tsuyu replied. She took Kyoka's other side. They had to make it back to the compound! Who knew who else was in this forest...? 

* * *

Things were not going the way that Compress was envisioning this attack to go. Sure, they were going to rough up the kids. And they were probably going to kill someone, and of course, there was that whole needing Ragdoll for some reason.  
  
Eh, he wasn't paid enough to ask questions about things like this. But then it turned out that the kids were a whole lot tougher then they the League gave them credit at first. Not only that, that scaly interloper, the one that looked like a Stain fanboy... that wasn't what he was expecting either!  
  
He could only imagine what trouble the kids and teachers were giving them! The noumu tracker that Kurogiri gave him was showing that a good number of the half formed monsters they brought with them were dead.  
  
Truly it was hard to find good help these days! Still, when he tossed the marble containing the crow boy to distract the lizard, he made his escape deeper into the woods. Surely this night wouldn't be a complete bust, would it? He stopped for a moment when he heard an explosion in the distance and watched as Muscular appeared to enter orbit.  
  
"Well, can't say he didn't deserve it." He mumbled to himself, shaking his head, as he came upon the henchman for the Breadmaster, the so named Buttery Pat. He had the boy with the tail on the ropes!  
  
"C'mon, kid! This'll make you BUTTER!" The man launched a stream of sizzling butter from the modified gauntlets at the blonde boy, catching his tail. Americans were strange, especially the ones brought over because of a certain blue nuisance that Shigaraki wanted dealt with. Honestly, he could have done without the pun, but he wasn't about to tell another villain how to do their villainy.  
  
He was about to make his own entrance when he saw the American take a blow to the face! It seemed one of the kids finally showed up to protect their friend, sending a bolt of lightning towards the butter man. A blonde with a black stripe in his hair.  
  
"Are you alright, Mashirao?" He asked, as Compress continued to spy from his position in the tree tops. The tailed blonde nodded.  
  
"Thanks for the save, Kaminari." They both looked upon the American villain turned to face them. The bolt that the one named Kaminari sent towards Buttery Pat had went clear through the American's face and head, leaving the whole left side of his face a messy crater!  
  
"That wasn't very nice, boys..." The man said, as his face reformed! Compress was impressed. He didn't put much thought to Buttery Pat's quirk, the aptly named Butter Body, but... the results spoke for themselves!

* * *

Minoru and Kota managed to get Izuku's body a few feet away from the shattered remains of the cliff where the green haired young man had fought the blonde behemoth. They could hear the fighting still happening in the forest, at that!  
  
"What... what are we going to do if we get attacked?" Kota asked, his breathing heavy. Minoru looked at him, as they managed another foot.  
  
"We protect Midoriya, of course! It's the least we can do..." At least Izuku was still alive and hopefully they didn't have to do anything. No fighting, no attacking, just carry the senseless young man back to the Pussycat's compound and celebrate how no one got killed.  
  
Or at least he hoped! There was fire, there was a trail of destruction all over the place! There was even ice and pools of acid. Minoru couldn't begin to think what was going on, as he an Kota continued their trek through the woods.  
  
"I... I don't think the two of us can do much to protect him..." Kota said, looking at all the destruction that was being caused to ... well... it was his home, really. Or at least it was the place he lived.  
  
"Nonsense, Kota... we'll just plus ultra and do it anyway!" Minoru was still smiling, but it was a hollow, fake thing. Hopefully the kid wasn't reading him like a picture book. There was a snap from a twig, and they both looked in the same direction.  
  
It was another kid, maybe a bit older then them, dressed in a school uniform and an intimidating gas mask.  
  
"What do we have here... three kids..." They could hear his tongue click, muffled by his mask. "What should I do with you...?" ... and then he pulled out a gun.  
  
"For you two, I don't even need my quirk to finish you off! And even better, that's the twerp that Shigaraki wants. I could probably ingratiate myself quite well if I end up taking him out!" He pulled the hammer back, and Minoru knew, was sure, certain! That there was a cruel smirk behind that mask. He was thinking... he had to be fast on his feet... fast in thought, what could he do to keep anything from going wrong!  
  
"Eenie... meenie... miney..." And then Pony Tsunotori barreled into him, launching the poor bastard into a tree.  
  
The blonde came to a stop, and looked over to Izuku, and Kota, and Minoru. Ochako was with her, too.  
  
"OMIGOSH! Is that Izuku?" Pony asked, looking at the two having successfully carried Izuku this far!  
  
"... Mineta... what happened to him..." Ochako was Izuku's friend... and she was Minoru's friend, kinda.  
  
"... I think he pushed himself too far and he ended up having a seizure." He looked over the two girls. "Do... do you know whats going on?"  
  
"Not really. Just that we're under attack." Ochako went over to Izuku and tapped him, letting the insensate boy float into the air. Between the four of them, they could move him now. They had to head back to the Pussycat headquarters!  
  
And then... they heard it.  
  
_'The villains are on the run! Everyone head back! It should be safe now!'_ Mandalay's voice echoing through their minds. If that was the case... then they would have to do just that!  
  
In the end... everyone was accounted for, though people were seriously injured. No one as bad as Izuku Midoriya who had to be med evac to a hospital nearby. Summer Camp, was of course, cancelled. Why wouldn't it be? And of the attacking villains, only two were captured... the boy with the revolver... and the one with the sharp teeth.  
  
The League of Villains was upping their game. It was obvious to everyone that they wanted to show just what they were capable of doing, to intimidate the heroes in training.  
  
More then that, to the two interlopers... Dabi and Spinner, the two Sons of Stain as recognized by Shoto Todoroki used the confusion of the League's escape to make good on their own getaway! Why they were here, and why they fought against the League of Villains... was anyone's guess! Pixie-Bob was complaining loudly to anyone that would pay her any amount of attention that she found her soulmate and she only barely managed to sneak her phone number into Dabi's pockets.  
  
There was only so much you could do for some people, it would seem.  
  
So it was... that morning the exhausted students filed into their buses and were shipped back home. Summer Camp... was a bust, but they did manage to face off real live villains and managed to perform admirably. So they could at least be proud of that!

* * *

 

Katsuki Bakugo was not proud. He was anything but proud! He didn't get a chance to show off when the villains attacked! He didn't even get to do anything cool!  
  
"Even Midoriya managed to go and do something that got him hurt..." He ended up growling to himself as he marched up to his family's apartment. He was grumbling. He hated grumblers. He barely paused when he saw that the door was ajar and grumbled some more.  
  
"Stupid old hag..." His mother must have left the door open... again. "How many times must I tell you to shut the fucking door!?" He marched right into the apartment and stopped, shock still.  
  
There was his mother, looking at him with pleading eyes as she was gagged and bound, placed on the couch. His father wasn't much better, a bloody head wound where he must've been pistol whipped! Who the hell had the fucking balls to fuck with him like this.  
  
"Well, if it isn't the man of the hour..." A voice, cultured like Four-Eyes called off from the side and Katsuki nearly gave himself whiplash to look at the soon to be dead man and had to blink, seeing that it was a man, yes.  
  
With a chair for a head.  
  
It was a single moment's pause, and it was all that was needed, as he felt something heavy strike him across the back of his head and then... darkness!


	56. Issue 50

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue 50  
  
When she heard about what had happened at the Summer Camp and was told that her son was at the hospital, Inko Midoriya dropped everything she was doing to head there immediately. It didn't matter how far away the hospital was or how long it would take to get there, it was the second worst phone call she ever received in her life, the first being a distant ten years ago.  
  
When she got to the hospital, Izuku's homeroom teacher was there to greet her with the doctor. The prognosis... was grim, but not as bad as it could have ever been.  
  
"Mister Midoriya appears to only be semi-conscious. Not quite a vegetative state, but not a coma. Unfortunately, when he suffered a seizure during the incident." Incident the doctor called it, as if the fact that the kids were attacked by villains was something easily written off.  
  
"According to the MRI we took when he was brought in, Mister Midoriya is suffering from mild brain damage, about 1% of his brain being affected. Oddly enough, he does seem to be recovering from it, but slowly." It was all jargon, jargon she didn't care for.  
  
"When is he going to wake up?" Inko asked. That was what she wanted to know, that was what was important. Not about him being attacked, or what is or isn't wrong with his brain, but when he would wake up!  
  
"We're not sure. He could wake up in the next ten minutes, or he could slip deeper into unconsciousness. We'll know more by the end of the week." With that said, the Doctor had more patients to look over as Inko near mechanically found a chair to sit in, curling up in her seat. Izuku's homeroom teacher sat down next to her.  
  
"... what am I going to do?" She asked, the tears starting to fall. "I... I can't lose him, too!"  
  
"I wish I had the answers, Mrs. Midoriya." The man said. "I wish I could say something to make you feel better, too. But... I can tell you is that Izuku hurt himself saving someone. He has the true heart of a hero, and when he pulls through..." When, not if... how optimistic of him. "He's going to tell you about the two people he saved."  
  
It did not do much to assure Inko. Hisashi wanted to be a hero, but never could make it, having a quirk that was more of a party trick then anything. Good for lighting candles and the stove and a fire, but being a hero? Not so much. But on that day, after he got Izuku out of the park, instead of running further and further away, he wanted to help someone else... and that bravery stole the love of her life away.  
  
She didn't want to lose her son to that kind of bravery, either. The only thing left that kept her stable, the rock upon which she built her life the last 8 years...  
  
It would be her end if that happened!

* * *

Izuku woke with a start, gasping as he looked around. The last thing he remembered was fighting that blonde bastard that killed Kota's parents, the villain Muscular. He remembered pushing himself to his very limits, to the very edge of what he was capable of. He remembered telling Minoru and Kota he was fine... before... before...  
  
Before he had a seizure!  
  
Gran Torino told him that he had to be careful about using his KC Shuffle, keep it under 45% total, but he pushed himself to 100% each!  
  
He looked around, he was back in his room! The various forms of All Might memorabilia gazing back at him. He was home! He was okay! Save for the mother of all migraines. He tossed aside the covers, getting out of bed and walking over to the window... only to find that outside was a featureless black void.  
  
"... oh... I believe I'm dreaming..." Izuku said to no one in particular. He could only imagine where he really was, his mind racing at a million miles per hour. Was he dying? Was his brain flooding with DMT stretching his final moments into infinity and that slowly but sure he'll watch this reality collapse around him?  
  
"... do you always mutter to yourself like that?" The voice spooked him and there, standing in the door... was a man. It appeared to be a man, his features were ever shifting, but it was masculine, as was his voice, though it appeared to be made up of no less then 5 distinct sources. Maybe as much as eight!  
  
"... who... who are you?" Izuku had no where to go, no where to run, no where to hide!  
  
"I'm not gonna hurt you, Izuku. I'm One for All." ... what?  
  
"... you're my quirk?" There was a pause between the two of them.  
  
"... sure, yeah. I'm your quirk. It's not just power that I stockpile, but memories and personality and the like." That made sense, as much as quirks did.  
  
"... so... what are you doing here?"  
  
"Time to get down to brass tacks, kid. You're currently in a not quite coma at the moment. The only way you're going to wake up? A journey into your inner self. I... will be your spirit guide." That didn't make any sense at all, but... if this wasn't just a dream that he couldn't force himself to wake up from...  
  
"So I have to figure out some personal truth I've hidden from myself before I'll be able to wake up?" That's typically how these kinds of things happened, in the movies, at least.  
  
"Something like that, the truth isn't one that was hidden from you by yourself, but hidden from you by outside actors. Tell me, has Toshinori gotten around to talking to you about the two brothers?" Izuku thought about what his quirk was telling him. Gosh, that sounded so weird to think of it like that. Was this how it was for Fumikage and Dark Shadow? But really, what two brothers was he talking about...?  
  
"I take it from your confusion, that the blonde idiot hasn't done so, fine." The quirk manifested clapped and Izuku's room faded away, only to bring up something else. It looked several years into the past, but... how long was hard to define.  
  
"Years and years ago, at the dawn of the age of quirks, there were two brothers. The older brother had a quirk, his quirk allowed him to take a quirk from others and then, if he so wished, give it to other people. The younger brother was quirkless." The scene was almost in shadows, as two children was talking to each other.  
  
"The older brother took pity on his sibling, and gave him a quirk. A simple stockpiling quirk that would be stronger as he got older." One for All continued, as the two children became young men. "However, the older brother's quirk, it's use was addictive, and he found himself stealing every quirk he could find, useful or not. In the chaos of the post quirk period, the older brother became both savior and villain, as he took quirks from his enemies and gave them to his allies. And so he became known as... All for One."  
  
The images were flashing off as fast as possible, as Izuku saw the various crimes that the older brother committed, but at the same time... acts of heroism driven by his own greed. Could they be called heroic acts, because of his reasoning? Or was that the type of thinking that turned one down the path of Stain?  
  
"And then something happened that told the younger brother what he must do." The scene shifted again. The young man that was the younger brother was at an airport. The insanity and the chaos of the quirk era was just beginning, but there was enough society that international travel was still a thing, if barely, depending where you were going and where you were at.  
  
But a plane was hurtling out of the sky! This was still when only a few people had quirks, and people were petty stupid animals looking after themselves. A streak of red flashed through the sky, catching the plane and bringing it down to safety. The Younger Brother was there, watching as the flash of color was a man in a costume, with a flowing cape.  
  
"... who... who are you...?" The younger brother had asked, awestruck. The costumed man laughed.  
  
"Isn't it obvious, son? Hahaha-ha! I'm a superhero!" And with that said, he took off into the sky. The others were there were mumbling, awestruck. Izuku, being in the middle of the memory, could here what the man had heard.  
  
"Who was that caped wonder?" Was the murmurings. And then it all made sense. They were in America, this was when Caped Wonder first appeared! Ten years after the glowing baby was born in China! The first superhero! But that would mean...  
  
"... the glowing baby, in China... they weren't the first quirk." Izuku was astounded, this knowledge would turn all of society on it's ear. "That means people with quirks had been around for longer then anyone actually knows!"  
  
"Oh, come off it, kid. Of course quirks have been around for far longer then anyone could fathom, but that's not that truth you're supposed to learn. On that day, having met the first superhero, the younger brother knew what he must do. As his brother was All for One, he would become One for All, taking his name from his quirk. It was only by accident that he discovered it could be passed along like a torch." This knowledge that was being imparted, it meant one thing and it bothered Izuku.  
  
"... I'm just another soldier. All for One could steal quirks, can't he? He probably had a few to keep him alive. He's the villain that caused that wound to All Might, isn't he?" He was always a clever lad. "... ... ... and he's behind the League of Villains..."  
  
"Certainly to the first, most likely to the second. As the Younger Brother was inspired by the first Superhero, Caped Wonder, it would only serve that the Older Brother was inspired by the first Supervillain, the Terror." His quirk replied, as the scene faded away from them. Izuku's brain was going a mile a second, as his synapses fired off.  
  
"If he gave quirks to his allies... whats to stop him from doing it with more then one quirk..." His widened, even as he had his chin in hand. The noumu! The noumu had multiple quirks! "... you wouldn't happen to know what would happen if someone had more then one quirk, would you?" It was a stretch, but the form that his quirk took shook it's head.  
  
"Couldn't tell you. The younger brother did have a quirk, though. Before All for One gave him that stockpiling quirk. The second quirk only allowed itself to be passed, but it merged with the gifted quirk, as it had with the quirks wielded by the next 7 wielders." ... the next seven? But Izuku was the ninth wielder... but... then...!  
  
"... All Might was quirkless!" Izuku frowned. That... it made too much and not enough sense. On one hand, All Might should have known how Izuku felt when they first met on that roof top... but on the other, All Might was from a time when quirked vs quirkless were more even. It... but... he had so many more questions! For All Might... for his quirk!  
  
"And there's your existential truth. Time to wake up!" And then Izuku was flicked in the nose and came too in his hospital bed. He stared, unblinking for a moment. He still had the mother of all migraines. He could see the IV drip and he could only imagine that they had a catheter, as well.  
  
He closed his eyes briefly, before paging his nurse, as he tried to sort his thoughts. He needed to talk to his mother, he needed to talk to All Might!  
  
... ... ... he needed to talk to the Tick before he found out that he'd been hurt!


	57. Issue 51

* * *

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue 51  
  
When Katsuki Bakugo came to, he had the mother of all head aches. Of course, that would be from the sandbagging that happened to him only a few hours ago, but that really wasn't what he was focused on. What he was... alright, he was confused.  
  
"... what the fuck is on my hands...?" He was starting at the white gloves he was wearing made out of a material he couldn't quite place, and they felt wet.  
  
"Ah, about time you woke up." It was that same voice from before! That same voice when he found his parents bound and gagged and assaulted!  
  
He spotted the speaker, and once again his brain fizzled as he looked upon his kidnapper.  
  
The man with a chair for a head.  
  
"Something bother you, boy?" The man spoke... but... how... could he... he had a chair for a head.  
  
"You have a chair for a head!" Katsuki exclaimed!  
  
"Yes, quite." The man replied... the legs of the chair were moving, giving the impression of both narrowed eyes and pursed lips. Katsuki didn't know how to parse this. He was finding a problem in the internal logic of the universe. Sure, mutation quirks existed, but here was a man... with a chair... for a head!  
  
"You... have... a chair... for a head..." He was still running through this head how this was possible! There were mutation quirks and then there were MUTATION quirks! This, by all means, was the latter.  
  
"... are you done, yet?" The man's reply was preceded by a long suffering sigh. He held up a hand to stop Katsuki's next outburst of stating the absolute obvious. "Nice to see that expensive education is doing you well. Is your hero name Captain Obvious? Yes, I'm aware that I have a chair of a head."  
  
There was a pause between the two.  
  
"Ah, of course, where are my manners! Allow me to introduce myself!" He took an exaggerated bow. "Chairface Chippendale! Supervillain! Crime Lord! Gentleman! And you... are Katsuki Bakugo. Loud mouth. Shit heel. BRAT!" He punctuated every single one of his evaluation on Katsuki's behavior.  
  
"You forgot one more!" The movement of the chair gave Katsuki the impression of an arched eyebrow. Or perhaps he was just attributing what he would think it would look like to stop from falling into maddening uncanny valley. "A DEADMAN!" And the ash blonde charged at the supervillain!  
  
Who stepped aside and watched as the hero in training tripped.  
  
"... w-what the hell!?" There was no kaboom. There was supposed to be a supervillain shattering kaboom!  
  
"Ah, you have to love the Japanese and their public quirk registries. Your quirk is listed as Explosion, but like most quirks it's based on that of your parents. Particularly the fact that your mother sweats glycerin and your father is capable of sweating on command... with the added benefit that his palm sweat includes nitric acid." It was a methodical take down of Katsuki's quirk! "You'll note the gloves you are wearing. They're just average, every day spa style gloves. But this particular pair have been inundated with surgical grade antiperspirant. The same used by surgeons in high risk surgeries."  
  
He let it sink in. And Katsuki knew exactly what the villain was doing. Looking down on him. Sneering at him. But... what he had said...  
  
"Feel free to take them off if it'll make you feel better. Most surgeons hate this particular formula. It'll keep their hands from sweating for a week or more. So do you know what that makes you boy?" The man with a chair for a head loomed over Katsuki. "It makes you effectively a quirkless, useless, nothing! A scared child, cowering in his own weakness!"  
  
Katsuki's quirk wasn't laser vision, but even then... the intense hatred in his red eyes, it was almost burning.  
  
"OooooOOoooh! Look at me, I'm quivering in my spats!" He was mocked... he was being looked down upon. His inferiority complex kicked into over drive and he wasn't crying, his eyes were just watering from looking at such a hideous caricature of a man!  
  
"I don't need a quirk to beat you!" And he charged at the gangster! Now that he knew he couldn't rely on his quirk for this fight... he excelled at everything he put his mind too. Sports. Martial arts. Academics, even! Sure, there was that time he tried acting and debate, but they didn't suit him at all!  
  
He didn't need Explosion to beat up some dude with a chair for a head!  
  
Said dude with a chair for a head side stepped Katsuki, practically weaving around the blonde teen, before driving his foot onto his knee... then whipping a kick across his face with the same, sending the blonde tumbling and skidding across the floor.  
  
"You know, you're a real bastard's bastard, aren't you? I was too, growing up. Comes with having a chair for a head. So I learned to be tough, and I learned to be smart. But most importantly, I learned to be mean!" He was gloating, calmly approaching the boy, his shoes clicking against the hard, cold floor, even as Katsuki tried to shake the dizziness from his head. "Admittedly, I'm only an above average marksman, but I've been training in saber fencing since I was your age. But I can't carry a pistol or a sword everywhere I go, but I have my shoes." He shrugged, looking at the ash blonde currently on the floor. "So I learned savate."  
  
He raised a foot over Katsuki.  
  
"Night, night!" And down it went!

* * *

Izuku Midoriya was really surprised about the amount of his friends and classmates that were checking in on him. True, summer camp was cut short, but they still did have a summer vacation. It just meant that those that would be on remedial lessons would have to work extra hard with out the hands on training from professional heroes.  
  
All in all... it wasn't that bad. He managed to convince Denki to start studying now. Sure, he had passed this year, but that was only on a technicality. Izuku highly doubted that the school was going to offer another another hunt like the one for Aphid.  
  
Thankfully Minoru offered to convince Kyoka to help with the electric blonde's studies.  
  
But he was really surprised to see Eijiro Kirishima and Mina Ashido come visit him.  
  
"Ah, 2/3rds of the illustrious Bakusquad. What? Your fearless leader not wanting to visit his rival?" Izuku absolutely hated hospitals, but they wanted to keep him a few days, just in case he slipped back into unconsciousness.  
  
"That's the thing... I haven't heard from Bakubro is a while now." Eijiro said, looking down. "We hadn't had chance to talk much, especially after those bombshells."  
  
"... you didn't tell him that you were into him, did you?" The fact that Mina and Eijiro had to look at each other made Izuku want to put his head in his hands. "In the history of bad ideas, that is probably the worst. I could have told you how that would go!"  
  
"It wasn't our fault, Midoriya! He wanted to meet up and then he kept saying these things and we kinda jumped the gun thinking he was talking about us..." Mina was blushing a bit, her cheeks going a dark pink.  
  
"... he thought we had feelings for each other..." Eijiro was looking anywhere else he could. Izuku for his part, looked at both of them.  
  
"... you mean you don't?" Izuku asked, arching a green brow.  
  
"Well..." Mina looked over to Eijiro, who was looking at her.  
  
"I mean..." They were both blushing and they both sputtering and Izuku really didn't need to deal with this.  
  
"Wait a second. You said drama bombs...? As in plural?" That got them to stop, as Mina scratched the back of her neck.  
  
"I... may have told him that I'm exiled alien royalty... it went about as well as you'd think..." Right... that. Izuku had honestly forgotten about that part of Mina's secret origins. But... he needed a change of subject, and quick!  
  
"Have either of you just tried calling him instead of texting him?" They both looked at him like he had horns growing out of his neck. That was a no, then, and he watched as Eijiro's face steeled into one of determination.  
  
"You're right, Midoriya! We should call him! Right now! Hell! I'll even face time him so he can see how you're doing!" That really wasn't what he wanted, but soon enough he had Mina and Eijiro on either side of him as the video call went through!  
  
It was soon answered, but it wasn't Katsuki rudely yelling at him, but rather the camera was focused on an empty chair.  
  
"Oh, blast it! Give me a second, I don't know where half the functions on these phones are..." A voice called out and soon... it zoomed out... and it wasn't a chair.  
  
It was a man... with a chair for a head! "Greetings! I am...!"  
  
"You're Chairface Chippendale!" Izuku exclaimed! THere was only one vile villain that could be! How common could such an extreme quirk mutation be?  
  
"Yes... yes I am. I see we have a fanboy. All the better." He coughed politely. "Where was I? Oh, yes! It is I! Chairface Chippendale! And!" The camera was moving around as the criminal on the other end took a dutch style selfie angle... showing Katsuki Bakugo and his parents in behind the American criminal! "Like my selfie? Oh, I guess you're paying more attention to the bastard in the background!"  
  
"You monster!" Eijiro shouted at the screen, trying to keep himself from breaking his phone. It made sense though, with everyone focused on Izuku at the moment... no one thought to check on Katsuki!  
  
"Yes, yes, tell me something I haven't heard before! Now then... here's what the three of you are going to do... you're going to tell your principal that if they want one of their star pupils back... they'll have to pay 2 million US dollars, cash. Negotiable, non-sequential currency to this address." There was a brief ping as Eijiro's phone got a text message with an address.  
  
"And since I'm feeling truly magnanimous, the parents go at 1 million each! You have until the end of the week, else I start sending parts of his pretty mother to you. Ta!" The phone fell from the man's hand and the last think recorded... was a foot stamping down on it.  
  
... ... ... ...  
  
"Midoriya..." Eijiro started, looking over at the moss headed teen. "... what do we do?" Izuku frowned as he thought about it. If they went to the teachers, who knew what could happen! But... he thought about it, and thought about it some more.  
  
Pro heroes were just that. They were pros. They had to do what they could with in the confines of the law.  
  
On the other hand, Izuku was also a wanted Vigilante. He knew a hero that didn't care for the various sundries of professional heroism. Perhaps... maybe...  
  
"I think... I think I might have a plan. It's not a very good one, but I think it's the last thing that Chairface would expect!" He looked at his two classmates, two other heroes to be. "How would you guys like to team up with the Aphid again? And see how heroes on the other side of the fence operate?"


	58. Issue 52

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue 52  
  
The logistics of what Izuku Midoriya needed to do was daunting. Katsuki Bakugo, his childhood best friend, now his teenager rival was kidnapped by the most nefarious crime lord, Chairface Chippendale, who was holding Katsuki and his family hostage for a princely sum of 4 million dollars!  
  
Sure, they were going to tell the school, but they had a week before the money drop, and most importantly, Izuku wanted to be able to give any and all information to the principal before he told them about what was happening, what had happened!  
  
But he needed to gather his allies! Eijiro Kirishima and Mina Ashido were in. He was sure that he could convince Pony Tsunotori, as well. The difficult part would be convincing the others that knew he was Aphid and perhaps one or two that did not. If they were going to go and face a bunch of american criminals, he needed... he needed people he could trust.  
  
Which is exactly why he put out the message that he wanted to meet Eijiro, Mina, Ochako, Shoto, Denki, and Minoru at Tenya Iida's current residency. He was going to lay everything down and explain what was going on and what was needed.  
  
In hind sight, he probably should have told Tenya was the meeting was for instead of the whole wanting ot hang out since he got out of the hospital. Though, in fairness, when the seven of them showed up at his house, the look on his face was almost worth it.  
  
"... what are you all doing here?" Tenya was surprised, a little aghast, but honestly he was looking better since a lot of them had seen him last.  
  
"Well... that's a bit of an interesting question, Iida. Allow me to start with one of my own? Can we come in?" Izuku had one of his large grins on his face, the infectious kind that got people to open up to him. Tenya sighed, opening the door further.  
  
Soon enough, the all 8 of them were in the living room of elder Iida's residence, as Tenya tried to process the absolute bomb that Izuku, Eijiro, and Mina had dropped. The others didn't know what to think, either. He didn't tell anyone why they were meeting.  
  
"That's a lot of money they're asking for." Ochako said, nodding along. "You think UA will actually go for it? Or will they do that whole 'We don't negotiate with terrorists' thing?"  
  
"... why would they kidnap Bakugo of all people? Why don't we just give'em a week and then give them our demands to take him back." Minoru said, nodding. Katsuki Bakugo had the personality of a clogged toilet, he actually had some sympathy for those criminals. He noticed the daggers that were being stared at him by both Eijiro and Mina, but chose to stand his ground just the same.  
  
It was then that the arguments started! Eijiro and Mina wanted to go in and save him. Minoru and Denki were all for going to the police. That was their job, after all. Ochako and Shoto were neutral on the subject, as they were neutral on Katsuki himself, but were favoring telling the staff. Letting them either pay or rescue the explosive blondes.  
  
"Guys, listen... I'm not suggesting we go out and rescue Katsuki ourselves, alright? What I'm saying is that we need to go and find out what we can about where he's at, who he's with, and then give all this information to the staff. Then they can go and rescue him. That way they'll know if they're walking into a trap or not." It did make some sense. And now... the final thing he had to say... that he had to explain this to both Shoto and Tenya.  
  
"Todoroki... Iida... you remember the first day of school...? When they made the Aphid Hunt announcement?" Izuku said, nervously.  
  
"I do." Shoto said, nodding. "I was with Jirou and Yaoyorozu, unfortunately our investigation never went anywhere. Evidence was... circumstantial at best, but we narrowed it down to three people."  
  
"... r... really? Who did you think it was...?" Izuku was even more nervous then he was just a few seconds ago, as Shoto arched a brow.  
  
"Does it matter? None of them were you." Shoto said, narrowing his eyes at Izuku's nervous laughter.  
  
"Funny you should mention that... Team Midoriya managed to win the Aphid hunt... because..." He took a deep breath. "Because of the alternative victory condition."  
  
"... alternative..." Tenya's eyes went wide. "... it was you! You were Aphid, weren't you! It makes so much sense, in hind sight! The movements, the similarities in gear, even the color green! I was so blind!" He sighed, as he calmed down.  
  
"... Midoriya, what are you suggesting...?" Shoto asked, the others leaning in.  
  
"I think... that the best way to do this investigation... is through vigilante-ing." He let the bomb drop.  
  
"Wait... you want us... to be vigilantes with you?" Minoru asked.  
  
"That sounds... I mean, that does sound fun, but..." Denki seemed interested.  
  
"It's not a permanent thing. Look, the staff knows I'm Aphid and they also know I'm not going to stop. But on the other hand, if they find out about you... you could be busted out of the Hero course. Or expelled!" Izuku explained to the others. "And... Mei was in one of her fugues before we went to Summer Camp and she has... ideas." Ideas sounded scary and awful.  
  
"... ... ... oh my god, your girlfriend has made vigilante costumes for us?" Ochako exclaimed! It was... okay, it wasn't entirely unbelievable, Mei was the weird, crazy girl from the support course, after all.  
  
"... ... ..." Tenya didn't know how to respond. He was already on thin ice as it was!  
  
"Hmmmm..." Shoto pondered. It did have some appeal.  
  
"... I'm willing to do anything to help Bakubro!" Eijiro exclaimed, a determined look in his eye.  
  
"Yea, me too!" Mina added.  
  
"I find it to be a wonderful idea, personally." ... it a ninth, new voice. There was only eight of them... so who was speaking... 8 pairs of eyes turned to the chair off to the side, only to see Principal Nedzu, sitting right there, sipping a cup of tea. "My goodness, after a tutoring session with young Mister Iida, I was more then happy to excuse myself, but I'm certainly glad I stuck around." The white furred weasel dog bear smiled to himself as 8 young adults stammered out that they weren't in fact actually planning to break the law.  
  
He let it go on far longer then he probably should have, but he was enjoying their nervousness too much. Oh well, it can't all be fun and games, now could it? He finally got them to stop when he held up a paw.  
  
"Now, I know what you're all thinking. Why would I be encouraging vigilantism in my students? Ah, but you see, I am not! Suppose you could think of this as extra credit, no? A chance to see what drives a man to be an illegal hero, so when you are professionals, you'll know how to better handle them." He pondered for a moment, taking a sip of his tea. "I'm also not encouraging you to get into a dangerous situation. We'll let Miss Hatsume design your costumes, Mister Midoriya will take you out on a night or two, letting you see how the other side operates, and then..."  
  
He shrugged. "And then you can go with your original plan. And a very good plan it was, in fact! Good thing I was still here, else you might have gotten into trouble. But this way... when I have Eraserhead and Present Mic and Snipe and the rest go to rescue Mister Bakugo, we'll already know all we can about this Chairface Chippendale and his associates."  
  
"... you'll have to forgive me, Principal Nedzu, if I come off as a bit... skeptical." Izuku said what everyone was thinking. They were basically given the go ahead from the head of their school to break the law.  
  
"Skepticism is good, yes. But in this case, unneeded. Like I said, extra credit. A learning opportunity and you'll be doing the school a service." He looked directly at Izuku. "Mister Midoriya, you're a very intelligent young man. Choice of company you keep not withstanding. This plan of yours will work, but I don't want you engaging Chairface or his men. A night or two stopping muggings and purse snatching to get a feel for what you need to do, then you can do your investigation and scouting for us." The principal's gaze went to all of them.  
  
"I want to make that perfectly clear. Do not engage with the villains themselves. You're only to observe and report." With that said, he smiled brightly. "Now then! This seems like it's going to be such fun figuring out what your vigilante identities will be, won't it? Oh, it's all so theatrical!" He let out a laugh, that sounded a bit too maniacal to the students, before calming down. "Well, excepting the two of you, of course."  
  
"Two... two of us?" Izuku was confused. What could this possibly mean? Did... that meant that someone else was a vigilante in this room, as he looked around, looking at his friends... and his eyes zoomed in on Ochako Uraraka, sweating profusely and blushing deeply. "... Uaraka... that... you..." It clicked. It made too much sense! Dive Bomber didn't have a strength quirk, they had a zero gravity quirk!  
  
"Yes, yes! I'm Dive Bomber! I went out a few times with Tree Leaper because Pony said it could be fun and as long as we didn't do anything that was too show off-y we'd generally be left alone, but then I saw that mugger and I did the thing that came naturally and threw a car at him!" She exclaimed, before slapping both hands over her mouth.  
  
She didn't just out herself, but she outed her girlfriend too!  
  
"Well... that was fun." Nedzu turned to Izuku, still smiling. "Please, Mister Midoriya. Give a call to your innovator girlfriend. I'm sure she'll want to be here for this, too!"  
  
What else could Izuku do but say yes? While this did feel like a trap, it seemed that the Principal's manner of handling something they were going to do anyway... was let them do it under supervision of some sort. Maybe they could do this and rescue Katsuki and his parents! And then find out why someone like Chairface Chippendale would want to kidnap the explosive ash blonde?


	59. Issue 53

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue 53  
  
Katsuki Bakugo was beside himself, he was in that... cell, same with his parents who were less then useless right now. He had his fashion model of a mother and a fashion designer of a father. What could they do? Nothing. NOTHING AT ALL! And those fucking gloves, he wasn't wearing them any more, but his captors made it known that they apply more when he's asleep.  
  
He never felt so weak in his life.  
  
And he wasn't crying! The damn place stank so bad it left his eyes watering!  
  
"Mornin', kiddo!" It was the fuck with the huge forehead. "Time for breakfast!" And he slung a bowl towards the ash blonde that caught it easily. He was more hungry then angry and then... he looked at just what was before him. It was a bowl, it had milk, and it...  
  
He would have assumed it was cereal, but nothing he ever saw before.  
  
"The hell is this?" He asked, looking up.  
  
"Cereal, now fuck off and eat." The man was eating his own bowl, sitting on a chair. Looks like it was his turn to watch them.  
  
"... cereal? What kind...?" It looked like a mushy bowl of half melted ice cream. The fuck with the huge forehead rolled his eyes, before tossing the box at him. It was powder blue and in bright, bold English lettering had the name of the brand. Gramma Brownie's Chocolate Chunker Wunker Bunkers!  
  
... ... ... it proudly stated that it now included even bigger chunks of chocolate chunks!  
  
"The hell is this?" Katsuki said, looking up from the box.  
  
"Can't youse read English? It's Gramma Brownie's Chocolate Chunker Wunker Bunkers... says so right here!"  
  
"That doesn't make it food! The first three ingredients are sugar!" He threw the box at the man, sighing as it clattered uselessly against the cell.  
  
"Hey! Lemme tell ya somethin', kid! I eat this cereal every day, and I turned out fine! And not just that! Gramma Brownie is a beloved cartoon mascot that has been delighting children and adults alike for over 100 years! So show some fuckin' respect!" He shrugged, picking up the box. "And youse ain't gettin' anything else to eat for breakfast, so eat up! It's all youse gonna get until supper time."  
  
Katsuki was staring down the American. If all he had was petulant defiance, then he was going to use it damn it!  
  
... ... ... it really took the force out of his stare when his stomach growled like a dying animal. "God... damn it!" And so, as angry as anyone could ever be, he ate his bowl of sugar coated, sugar filled, sugar cereal. Frankly, by the time he was done, he thought he was going to be sick!

* * *

It was official, Mei Hatsume was crazy... insane, even. And Tenya Iida had invited her into the home of his brother. This was, without a doubt, the worst mistake he had ever made. She already had cork boards and white boards and all sorts of other boards set up with her designs.  
  
It wasn't hard for him to realize that Mei would think of these things. Honestly, it was probably at best, a thought exercise. But the principal? The Principal was going through with this... Project: Vigilante! Sure, it had a good idea behind it, the rescue of Katsuki Bakugo, but... it was a really bad idea.  
  
"And with these adjustments, Chargebolt becomes Railgun! You following, Kaminari? If we ground you properly, we could use your own electricity generation to power the magnetic coils on the arms of the Railgun costume and bam. Instant magnetic accelerator. Plus it'll keep your brain from sparking out, too!" She had just finished the explanation of one of her plans. An alternative use of Denki's power to create a railgun instead of his usual charge attacks.  
  
It was... actually quite brilliant.  
  
"Quite amazing, Miss Hatsume." The Principal was rather impressed, too, as he looked through the other designs. "You really are the Support Course's wunderkind, aren't you?" It was a heap of praise for the pinkette inventor and she had the good sense to blush.  
  
"Tha... thank you, Sir. But...unfortunately, unlike Izuku's Aphid costume, which didn't require that much, all of these will require much, much more then what I have at my workshop at home." It was true. She had an upgraded drawn up for Aphid, but that and Project: Vigilante was nothing more then a pie in the sky dream, never to be achieved...  
  
But...  
  
"You'll need access to the design studio." Principal Nedzu quickly and correctly deduced. "Oh, if only you knew someone that had access to the campus at this time!"  
  
"Wait, wait, wait, wait!" Mei couldn't have heard that right. "Full access to the design studio? The 3D printer? All the tools and everything else?"  
  
"Of course, the only way this plan you've cooked up will ever work is if you put your ideas in practice, and to do that you'll need access to our facilities." It made sense, in a way, Mei could do a lot of things with just her workshop at home, but if she was to get Project: Vigilante off the ground, she'll never everything and anything that she could get her hands on.  
  
"... Principal Nedzu, sir!" Tenya finally spoke up. "Isn't this... don't you feel that you might be found culpable if it's discovered that you were behind this? Supporting Vigilantism like this has the possibility of backfiring, does it not?" Someone had to be the voice of reason and if it wasn't going to be the principal, then it fell upon Tenya Iida to do so!  
  
"It's an officially sanctioned undercover operation to get hero course students some much needed experience in the field, on their own, dealing with petty crimes under observation. These types of operations have been held time and time again at our austere institution, but not in recent memory and we decided to start offering the extra credit course to those that feel like they could much much more in the pursuit of their studies. Next question, please?" The principal wasn't just a hyper intelligent educator, as Tenya had known for some time having had the... bear weasel dog as his instructor since before the start of Summer Vacation, but more important, he was a politician through and through, able to shoot down Tenya's concern with the greatest of ease.  
  
"Well! If I got access to all of that, I'm gonna need a hand. Maybe two. I got some classmates that might be willing to help, but they'll actually need real extra credit to go through with it." Mei suggested, as she bundled up all her plans. They were going to be headed to UA and the design studio, so she was packing up.  
  
"You think you can place your trust in them to not go beyond the principal?" Izuku asked the pinkette, who turned to him and gave her own smile.  
  
"Only if they know whats good for them!" It was the scariest that Izuku ever saw her.

* * *

"So, how's your guest doing?" Shigaraki asked, as Chairface exited the portal that Kurogiri created, linking the League of Villains... Gastropub with the Triggermen's warehouse.  
  
"He's a bastard, but you already knew that, didn't you? When do you this meeting to happen? I already told his little friends about the trap. The money drop. You really think they'll send All Might to do it?" The American gangster was adjusting his gloves. "Seems this whole ploy is based on them behaving in a certain way."  
  
"C'mon, Chairface, do you really think the heroes wouldn't try to go and rescue one of their own? Besides, I can be really persuasive if I want to be. And Katsuki Bakugo is already half way there to being a villain. We just have to convince him that he's better on the side of devils with horns then on the side of angels with a halo." Shigaraki was busy fiddling with a handheld game player. He finally managed to regain all his high scores, leaving everything right in the world.  
  
"Fine. You want this meeting to happen during the money drop? You sure you want to talk to him alone? Kid's got a chip on his shoulder, and it's turned into a boulder after we figured out a work around his quirk." Chairface asked, pondering the idea of how the whole League of Villains would be at the money drop point, bringing all holy hell ontop of All Might. It could work, if they could pull it off.  
  
"I'll be fine. You just said, he's essentially quirkless right now, right? I'll have a harder time dealing with a toddler." Shigaraki didn't even bother to look up.  
  
"Which leads to the next question. Who's pulling the strings of the League of Villains? The one that Kurogiri talks to sometimes, this Sensei?" That did get Shigaraki to look up at the American villain.  
  
"You really want to know, Chairface? Just who managed to pull all these desperate individuals into a coherent group? I know if I said it was me, you wouldn't believe me, but you can believe this: I'm not the only one that wants All Might dead. The Most Dangerous Man in Japan wants All Might dead as well. That's all you need to know about who Sensei is."

* * *

Kai Chisaki was... at ill ease. Yes, he was... teaming up with... the likes of the Terror. It was a nightmare made real, a monster from beyond the grave. He was, without a doubt, the most dangerous man in the country right now, and everyone that worked for Kai knew it.  
  
It was a simple set up, the Terror wanted Kai to help distribute Trigger, the wonder drug that made people with weak quirks into powerhouses... and those with strong quirks into monsters!  
  
And honestly? If the Terror asked you do something, you best well did it if you knew what was good for you!  
  
Though even he had to question what was happening now. The Terror... had discovered the source of his quirk suppressing bullets, the way they were supposed to work and traced them back to Eri. It's why she was with him at that first meeting. He asked Kai questions about her quirk, how it was supposed to work. How it lead to the bullets. Kai wasn't dumb enough to demonstrate Overhaul to the Terror, but now... now he was skeptical.  
  
"I'm sorry, could you repeat that?" The yellow, rheumy eyes of the Terror narrowed as he stared at Kai, who felt like he was being down upon by a great predatory bird, spotting easy prey.  
  
"You told me that your little girl is capable of rewinding things! Well... Obviously I want her to rewind me, of course!" In all fairness, the Terror looked as old as anyone that Kai had ever know. Perhaps older. He was decrepit. Attached to Life Support, and was on more then a dozen medications, though he had mentioned that he owed his long life to nothing more then his cold heart full of hatred!  
  
"I understand that, sir." He was happy that he was wearing his mask. If the Terror could see the way he grit his teeth every time he deigned submission to the elder villain, it would probably be his end, actually. "You know this could end with your death?"  
  
The Terror was wracked with a bout of laughter, ending a hacking cough. "Better men have tried to kill me and fail. Now bring her in. Let's see what she can do!" What else could he do, but have Rappa bring Eri in. He explained to her what he wanted her to do and not to worry at all.  
  
A part of Kai was hoping that she ended up rewinding the man so far back he ceased to exist, but there was no way he could be that lucky, could he? Even as the horned girl steeled herself, approached the supervillain... who took her hand in his!


	60. Issue 54

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue 54  
  
Izuku Midoriya had to admit, now that his Aphid costume was supported by more then just Mei's make shift lab and workshop... it actually felt and looked like a real hero costume. No longer was he just running around knee and elbow pads with a bullet proof hoodie! Now all the tech of his Jack Rabbit costume was in his Aphid costume and it felt great!  
  
"Haha! Wait til the night gets a load of me! DARK WINE!" The voice was gravely, and Minoru Mineta was showing off his own vigilante costume. Apparently Mei's hair relaxer formula worked and for the next six hours, Minoru was sporting a pompadour. His costume was a simple dark dark dark red violet jumpsuit, a splash of even darker red on his chest. A leather jacket was worn over top of it and a pair of dark dark shades were covering his eyes.  
  
"... ... ... ... why are you talking like that..." Denki Kaminari was in the newly dubbed Railgun suit, wired coiled along his arms. On his chest was the ammo cache of ferro rods, pneumatic actuator popped them off between his arms and the electro-wires did the rest.  
  
"Talking like what?" Minoru asked incredulously. "I'm just using my normal talking voice, is all." Normally talking voice? If maybe he gargled grain alcohol and concrete before smoking ten packs of cigarettes.  
  
"Your attempts to sound bad ass, Mineta, are failing." Shoto Todoroki said, approaching the group. His costume was much more fearsome then either Railgun or Dark Wine's! It consisted of an armored chest plate over a jumpsuit with a flame motif, a tank of some sort on the back leading to gauntlets Shoto was wearing on his wrists. His voice was muffled by the helmet he wore, an almost antiquated construct of opaque, smoked glass and burnished brass.  
  
'To reflect the light of his flames even better!' Was how Mei and her cronies explained the choice of having a bullet proof glass globe on his head. Oh well, it did cut an imposing figure, he'd have to admit.  
  
"The both of you don't know what you're talking about!" Minoru said, still running with his cancer voice. "I have to make sure that no one things that Grape Juice and Dark Wine are the same person!" On one hand, it did make sense. he didn't want to get any trouble with the whole vigilante thing, despite the fact that there was much to hide Minoru's short, stubby body.  
  
"Alright, Mineta... you do you." Izuku slapped his hands together. "You guys ready...?" It was their shake down run. Deal with some muggers or a purse snatchers. Typical vigilante activity, the kind that would attract... at best, only middling attention!  
  
"Do my eyes deceive me!? Or have you gathered allies, my young charge!" ... or, you know, the Tick would show up and they'll just follow his lead and probably fight a monster or two. Whatever. "It makes my heart swell to know that you've taken the first steps to lead a Junior Jamboree of Japanese Justice!" The Tick's lips quivered slightly. "Oh! I promised myself I wouldn't cry!" Before he did just that.  
  
"... ... ... is that normal for him?" Denki asked. It was unexpected for the Tick to show up, but the amount of melodrama coming from the Big Blue Bug of Justice was palatable.  
  
"... honestly? Not really. This is rather subdued." He shrugged, before turning to the Tick. "... Tick, I didn't expect you to show up." That stopped the blubbering super hero to stop, and looked at his partner in justice!  
  
"Well, if you must know, old chump, my Aphid senses were tingling and I realized that perhaps you would need the guiding hand of the Mighty Tick! And look what I see, but you have gathered allies in the never ending war on crime!" He looked at the gathered four heroes in training, now decked out as various vigilantes. "Yes, YES! Come with me, sproutlings! And we shall turn you into mighty oaks of JUSTICE! SPOOOOOOOOOOON!" And he leapt off the building.  
  
"... ... ... does he expect us to follow?" Minoru... no... Dark Wine asked, looking towards as Aphid, the viridian vigilante, pulled up his hood.  
  
"Yeah, we probably should. Don't worry, you three have spring heels in your footwear. They should let you keep up with us." And Aphid bounded off after his partner. The other three looked at each other.  
  
"Well..." Ignite started. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained!" And he followed after, a trail of flames in his wake.  
  
"... wow, that's really cool." And Railgun did the same, leaping off into the air with a laugh.  
  
"... it wasn't that cool..." Dark Wine said, before getting into a hacking cough. The voice was a little rough on his throat, but it was growing on him! And he soon joined them, hopping from roof to roof. The three of them weren't as used to hopping from roof to roof like the way that Aphid was, but they were getting used to it.  
  
Keeping up with Aphid was a whole lot easier after the first three leaps, but keeping up with the Tick? That was a different kettle of fish all together. Following? Easy as hell, you just followed the trail of broken masonry!  
  
"In through the nose and out through the mouth, kids! That's the way a hero breathes when he's running across the rooftops! Oxygenate, boys!" And then he suddenly stopped, Aphid alongside him, the other three behind them. Dark Wine unfortunately managed to trip, but caught himself just in time.  
  
"Why'd we stop...?" Railgun whispered to Ignire, who shushed him.  
  
"HARK!" The Tick held up a hand, the antennae on his head wiggling wildly. "Do you year that boys?" He waited for them to reply.  
  
Beat.  
  
There was no reply.  
  
"No matter! It is the cry of the innocent! HUNGRY FOR JUSTICE!" The Tick was perched on the edge of the building. "Don't you hear it boys? The very city itself cries out!"  
  
"I don't hear anything..." Dark Wine whispered, his voice harsh and gravely and quite comical sounding.  
  
"He's being figurative." Ignite replied to him. "I think." The three watched as the Tick swan dived off the roof, and then watched as Aphid shrugged and joined him. The three looked at each other, this was Aphid's show, but...  
  
"I've noticed that they have a predilection for leaping before they look." Railgun observed. The other two nodded.  
  
"It does work thought." Ignite added.  
  
"Well then..." The harsh, gravelly voice of Dark Wine came up from behind it. "It's time to shit, isn't it?" The other two looked at him.  
  
"I'm sorry...?" Railgun was confused, Ignite wasn't fairing much better.  
  
"... what? You know what they say... shit or get off the pot...?" ... ... ... he sighed. "Fine, it was dumb." And then followed after the Tick and Aphid.  
  
"... you know, maybe after this is all done, we should talk to him. This whole trying to be a cool guy doesn't suit him." Ignite said, turning to Railgun.  
  
"You prefer him being a super pervert?" Railgun asked. A fair question, indeed. Ignite shrugged, as the two took a step off the roof. They landed in the alley, just in time for the Tick to kick a door in.  
  
"EVIL DOERS BEWARE! The Summer of Scounderlism has come to an end! BEHOLD THE WINTER OF WHOLESOMENESS!" Behind the door... was a group of... uniformed henchman! Dark red uniforms, with helmets featuring a T-shaped visor. "Ooooh! Look alive, Aphid! We have actual henchmen!"  
  
And with that, the Tick charged into combat, shouting his cutlery themed cry of BATTLE! Aphid looked to the other three and sighed.  
  
"This is what I put up with. Behold... the Tick's process: Punch now, punch later, and punch some more." He sighed again. "C'mon, let's at least give him a hand." With that said, he leapt into battle alongside his long time mentor. The other three realized this was it. They took one more step... and they were going to be vigilantes, even if only for a little while.  
  
Railgun was the first to step up, rushing into battle. It was a quick motion, raising his arms up, letting the electricity arc in the wires and then... zorp! He launched the first one and... it was working! This was working! It would work! It didn't have the usual pain in his head. Perfect!  
  
Ignite followed him. If Railgun could do, then so could Ignite! The suit was designed to work on two levels. The fire was fueled by the tank on his back, but it was using his own flames as the pilot light. The idea was to make peope think that he was nothing but a fire bug, and not capable of using extreme flames generated by his own body!  
  
The henchmen, armored as they were, scattered from the gout of flame he set after them. This... wasn't too bad, actually. He was using his own quirk to control the fire, somewhat, to keep it from burning the building down.  
  
And so it was that Dark Wine made his debut as well! The pompadour whipped around, wrapping around the weapon of one of the henchman and with a whip of his head, the weapon went flying away, sticking to the wall with the mass of hair.  
  
The purple haired teen laughed, pulling a comb out of his pocket. "Oh, yeah... I can get used to this!" He reset his 'do, and prepared to see who was next!  
  
The three newbie vigilantes managed to help their veteran class mate, as well as the their hero supervision, soon triumphing over the vile villains they were facing! They were bound in steel cables as the the Tick and Aphid looked over.  
  
"... Tick... I... think... I think we finally found a Trigger distribution center!" It wasn't just the normal thugs. These were the actual suppliers! They finally hit pay dirt with their investigation, finally cracking this wide open!  
  
"I think you're right, champ!" He turned to the lead henchman. "You wanna tell us who you work for, or I do I need to get mean?" The helmet-less henchman sneered at the Tick.  
  
"You know who I serve! And I say it proudly! I SERVE THE TERROR!" The man shouted so loud spittle flew from his mouth, the rest parroting his cry.  
  
"... ... ... that's... that's impossible." Aphid said. "You... but..." Realization hit him like a ton of bricks. "Tick, I don't think that Terror is dead..."  
  
They had known that it was the Terror's emblem attached to the Trigger vials, but to find out that it was the Terror himself! It was.. beyond anything that Aphid could think of. A call was placed in to the police, but... they had to make themselves scarce afterwards. A little ways a way, the other three were looking at Aphid.  
  
"... the Terror?" Ignite asked. "Did I hear that right? That can't possibly be what I just heard..."  
  
"Of course you'd know about the Terror." Aphid muttered to himself. "Okay, it's a really long story, but we've..." He motioned to the Tick and himself. "Have been investigating a drug known as Trigger, we've discovered that Trigger is being bankrolled by what I thought was the Terror's organization. But I think... I think this confirms it. It's not the Terror's cronies and it's not a plan he set in motion decades ago, but... the Terror survived his fight with Caped Wonder..."  
  
He put his chin in his hand, and pondered. Right now, the priority was Katsuki. He packed this away, once the explosive blonde was rescued, he'll tell All Might and the Principal and whoever else about this and they would take care of the Terror afterwards.  
  
The Terror had been in hiding for 30 years... what was one more week?


	61. Issue 55

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue 55  
  
Ochako Uraraka was... nervous. On one hand, Mei Hatsume and her... well, she would call long suffering and abused classmates, managed to take her Dive Bomber costume into something professional and rather well made.  
  
Unfortunately, it appeared that one of them may have been the same punk that made her Uravity costume much tighter then she originally wanted. She didn't want to bring it up, because of the whole... barely authorized illicit activity. Apparently since she was the only one with any kind of experience in being a vigilante... she had to show the ropes to her classmates.  
  
Eijiro Kirishima, Mina Ashido, and Tenya Iida. Honestly, she was surprised that Tenya agreed to this whole endeavor, but he did so under every protest he could muster, but the Principal encouraged that he do so. There was probably something to unpack there, but if Tenya wasn't going to tell her, she wasn't going to pry.  
  
Still... it was... an odd feeling. She wished Pony was here. She would know what to do, but there was already the 8 of them and the more people they brought in, the harder it would be to keep this a secret. She sighed, her shoulders heaving heavily, before perking up. She could do this!  
  
She wasn't just Uravity, the Zero Gravity hero, she was Dive Bomber! A super strong vigilante heroine capable of throwing cars with the greatest of ease! ... of course, she wasn't actually super strong, but it didn't matter. She was going to show Black Diamond, Red Engine, and Alien Queen the ropes of being a vigilante.  
  
"She is looking really intense, isn't she...?" Mina asked, decked out in her costume. It wasn't... too bad, but Mei and the others really went crazy with the whole Alien Queen aesthetic. Some water proof make up to have the few parts of exposed skin to be a more flesh tone... a wig to cover up her horns and hair, and of course... a super retro looking space outfit.  
  
Yeah! She liked it, actually! Alien Queen was a super retro space babe pin up and she got to use a ray gun!  
  
"I guess a fire was lit inside of her all of the sudden." Eijiro replied, the eyes behind his mask practically lightning up! "It's hella manly, actually! ... for a girl..." Mei and company had washed out Eijiro's hair dye, and pulled his hair back into a tight topknot. Apparently when one of them suggested cutting his hair, he put his foot down that he wasn't going to shave the side of his head and look like a goof for a few days.  
  
The Black Diamond costume was far simpler then his Red Riot one, lacking the big scary oni theme that Eijiro had picked. Black wraparound shades and black jeans with black boots with white laces.  
  
Other then that... not much else, though one of Mei's classmates, a boy with a light bulb for a head proceeded to present Eijiro with a further aesthetic for Black Diamond. Mina wasn't sure what she thought about, the ugly black veins that crisscrossed over Eijiro's hard body. It made him look so intimidating!  
  
'Let me work, man... I'm an artiste!' The young man from Support said, as he had applied make up to Eijiro's body. Apparently Mei had thought up strange and exciting back stories to accompany their new identities.  
  
"Can we just get this over with?" Tenya Iida wasn't sure he liked what Mei did. His... so called vigilante costume was a modified red version of his regular costume, and included the support items that Mei Hatsume oh so helpfully lent him to use during the Sports Festival.  
  
"Oh, c'mon, Iida! Where's your sense of adventure!? We're going to do something that no one else in our class has ever done!" ... Mina paused for a moment. "Except Midoiry and Uraraka. And of course Kaminari, Mineta, and Todoroki." Mina let out a chuckle. It wasn't that unique when sh said it, now!  
  
"I understand, Ashido, but..." Tenya sighed. "I feel like I'm cheating. I've had to work harder these last few weeks. I'm the one that got kicked out of the Hero course, after all, but..." He sighed, just a bit. "I'm not a fan of vigilantes. Rules exist for a reason!" He failed to mention that he broke quite a few of those rules himself and that was why he was in his current predicament.  
  
He really only had himself to blame...  
  
"Alright!" Ochako broke the conversation, she finally psyched herself up enough to do this! "Follow my lead! We'll deal with some purse snatchers, and we'll take down a mugger or two! But I don't want you guys to do anything too dangerous! You gotta get used to... you know... making yourselves not you."  
  
A fair point! The other three nodded, their revelry broken as they headed out into the night!  
  
No longer were they Ochako, Eijiro, Mina, and Tenya... they were Dive Bomber, Black Diamond, Alien Queen, and Red Engine! And they were capable of handling any problem the city would spit out at them! From muggers by the park, joy riders in down town, and a B&E in progress at a jewelry store, the four of them were getting the hang of this. They were getting into the groove!  
  
In fact, it was going so well that the call from Izuku was enough to give them pause. Apparently Izuku needed to talk with the other four about something they found on their patrol. When they showed up, however...  
  
"YOU!" Tenya yelled out, a finger pointing at the Big Blue Bug of Justice.  
  
"Me...?" The Tick looked around, thumb planted on his chest. Perhaps the lad was confused and was talking about someone else.  
  
"Yes, you! You're the one that... I accepted that Midoriya was your sidekick, that there were some things I couldn't control or understand, but I could sleep well knowing I never had to meet you!" Tenya was shouting as he pulled off is helmet. The Tick looked over to Midoriya.  
  
"You know what he's talking about, chum?" The Tick asked, pointedly ignoring Tenya's outburst.  
  
"... uh... his brother was attacked by the Hero Killer: Stain and apparently he quoted you." Midoriya replied.  
  
"Ah... I see, I understand!" He slapped Tenya on the shoulder, sending the boy stumbling. "Good Sir! Someone has done you a great evil, and it seems that I may have had a hand in that great evil, and for that... I am truly sorry! But Justice waits for no man! It has no time for petty grudges! Or the cold heart of hatred! Especially with the news we have recently discovered!"  
  
Tenya sighed. The Tick was... right. Anger got him into this mess, it won't get him out. But... "What news?"  
  
"Iida, are you..." Izuku started, figuring out how to say this. "Iida, are you familiar with the Terror?"  
  
"... the Terror?" Tenya asked. "Hn. The Terror supposedly killed my great-grandfather, so yes... I'm familiar if you can call it that."  
  
"Ah." Was Izuku's simple reply, before he could say anything more, Tenya continued.  
  
"But thankfully, the Terror has been dead for 30 years, so we need not worry about such a monster."  
  
"Yeah... about that..." Izuku tried his best to smile in a way that was reassuring. "The Terror may not be so dead after all. It's... it's complicated. But, the Terror is in Japan. Or has minions in Japan or something! I'm not sure just yet, but... but we need to focus on Katsuki for now."  
  
"Do... do you think that's wise...?" Shoto asked. "We should tell someone. The principal. Our teachers, anyone. If we let this sit around, who knows what could happen! I know, Bakugo was kidnapped! But this seems more... just as important!"  
  
It was a good point.  
  
"And that's why I decided to tell all of you about this. I think... I think we should tell the Principal at least. Then he can tell the authorities while we focus on Katsuki." Izuku said, the other seven pondering the plan. It was a good one. And it would let the pros do what they did best.  
  
Save the world!  
  
"With that out of the way... you think we can do this? You think we can track down Chairface incognito...?" Izuku changed the subject, looking at his friends and classmates. He saw them nod almost as one. "Alright, alright. We're going to do this. The Tick and I have been assisting some other heroes dealing with Chairface, and I think we have a lead. By this time tomorrow night? We'll have found Katsuki and the pros will have him rescued!"  
  
It was so easy to say, it was so easy to hope and believe.  
  
And it's not like they had any reason to think other wise. Their teachers were some of the best pro heroes in the country! In the world!  
  
What was a single American gangster compared to that?


	62. Issue 56

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue 56  
  
This was it. If they were ready or not, it didn't matter. The time had come to execute the idea. They were going to go and scout out the location that seemed to be Triggermen Headquarters! Once they got confirmation of it, they were to send the call in and several Pro-Heroes were going to come in and... well... wreck the place.  
  
Katsuki would be rescued, as well as his parents, and the day would be saved.  
  
"You nervous?" Aphid asked Dive Bomber, the second most experienced vigilante in the group. The young woman looked up, shrugging her shoulders.  
  
"I... a little bit. This isn't just going after muggers and purse snatchers, this is big. Really big. There will be thugs with guns and they'll want to really hurt us." Her voice was going a mile a minute, her nerves were most definitely shot.  
  
"... really? You... you threw a car at someone the first night out as a vigilante. How is that any different now?" On the other hand, Aphid was nervous those first couple of months, but he was still being dragged around by a nigh invulnerable, super strong crazy person. Then again, he was busting heads not long after starting with the Tick...  
  
"That was different! Those guys didn't have guns, they just had clubs and pipes, these guys? They're Americans! You've seen movies! You work with the Tick! They're all crazy! Every single one of them!" Dive Bomber replied, near hysterical!  
  
"... and what about Pony?"  
  
"Especially Pony! She's the craziest of them all, because she's just so... joyful and kind and so friendly and caring and... and... and... I don't know why she likes me so much." Her shoulders slumped, and she hung her head. Aphid... awkwardly patted Dive Bomber on the back.  
  
"... so... hey, I've been there. That whole... crazy in love thing. I get it, you're still getting over everything about it. You're literally head over heels and you can't stop the fact that your heart is jack hammering in your chest and then she kisses you and your brain just shuts down and you black out and when you come too, you're not wearing any pants and..." He looked up, Even through the opacity of Dive Bomber's mask, Aphid could see those saucer wide eyes.  
  
"... well, at least I feel better... we're in the same boat, aren't we?" Dive Bomber asked, and yet, he could still feel that smirk behind that mask.  
  
"... yeah, I guess we are. I don't think we'll ever get used to it, but I suppose... I suppose it's one bridge we'll have to burn when we get there." He took a deep breath. "Alright, enough talk about us. It's time to rescue Katsuki!"

* * *

 

The last few days had not been kind to Katsuki Bakugo. His captors were... canny. They didn't let him sleep well, they barely kept him fed (and what they did feed him could barely be called food), and they were all looking for an excuse to beat him up. And worse of all, as long as they were continuing to suppress his quirk, there was not a damn thing he could do about it!  
  
And sure, the old man and the old hag thought they were being clever. Their first plan was to line the gloves with cloth on the inside, form a barrier of glycerin against whatever aluminum chlorohydrate they were using. The last thing he really wanted to wear was a pair of gloves soaked with his mother's own sweat!  
  
And then the two had the brilliant idea that between the two of them, they had the component parts for nitroglycerin! Which lead to Katsuki having to explain to his parents why mixing glycerin and nitric acid was a terrible, awful, very bad idea. They were adults! They should know this already!  
  
"Dammit, brat! We're just trying to help! Look at you!" His mother was gesticulating wildly. "You have a black eye and you're lucky they didn't break your nose!"  
  
"I don't need you're help, you old hag! I can take care of myself!" Katsuki shouted back! Sure, his one eye was near swollen shut, but he had worse when he was in grade school. These fucks talked a tough game, but all they did was rough him up, nothing more or less.  
  
"Dear... Katsuki... please, the two of you arguing isn't helping..." His father said, meekly, causing both Katsuki and his mother to yell at him to stay out of their business.  
  
"My goodness, what an amazingly dysfunctional family." That voice... the bastard with a chair for a head. The only one of those punks that got him and his parents that could even leave a mark on him. The blonde glared hate at the man through his one good eye.  
  
"The fuck do you want? Here to kick the shit out of me again?" Katsuki knew that he shouldn't antagonize the crime lord, but it was the only bit of fighting back that he had at his disposal, even if it did leave him covered with cuts and bruises. Let him keep a tally of what he was going to pay back to the bastards. When the time was right, of course!  
  
"Keep it up with your attitude, and I just might! But no, you and I need to have a talk. In private!" He snapped his fingers and the freak with a wing nut for a head pulled Katsuki roughly from the cage. He grimace, almost feeling his shoulder pop from the handling.  
  
"Sorry, Dean just doesn't know his own strength sometimes." With that, Chairface, Dean, and Katsuki left his parents behind. The American crime lord had his hands clasped behind his back, walking along side Dean who was carrying Katsuki by his arm.  
  
"If your friends were smart, soon enough you'll be out of here. So be happy. Look at it as an opportunity to grow." Chairface had that same smarmy tone to his voice. Made Katsuki wanted to punch him, as much as that would do. Much as he hated to admit, with out his palm sweat, his punches were just as good as any other teenage martial artist's punches.  
  
And Chairface had years of experience over him.  
  
"You really think you're going to get away with this...!?" Katsuki asked, defiantly as he could be.  
  
"Actually, no. I don't plan on getting away with anything. I don't plan on giving you back at all." ... ... ... wait... that... but... The man pulled a watch out of his vest pocket. "All in due time, you little prick. All in due time."

* * *

The Eight of them were near silent as they followed the directions that Aphid had from their contacts with the Pro Heroes. Apparently, according to the young vigilante, the Triggermen had earned the Ire of the several Pro Heroes that were featured in the the so called Trigger Studios Productions, a series of pornographic comics featuring various heroes in... various family unfriendly states.  
  
The plan was simple. They were going to find out where Katsuki was, then call in the Pro Heroes to finally end this blight on the whole of Professional Heroism, once and for all! But like everything else in life, that was easier said then done! Soon enough, however, they were at what they would hope was the Triggermen Headquarters!  
  
"Geeze..." Railgun said, as they peered through the skylight. "What a bunch of freaks! Look at that one, he doesn't have a head!" True to words, the one that he was talking about seemed to have no head at all!  
  
"Shush!" Aphid put a finger up to his mouth. "We don't need them hearing us!" He turned back to look through the sky light, and saw him. Their target. Chairface Chippendale. Seeing him in real life was something else. He... did in fact have a chair for a head. No camera trickery there. And the thug that towered over him had a wing nut for a head, too!  
  
In his grasp, was Katsuki Bakugo. Their real target! He was here! Fantastic! A quick text to the Principal and it was called in! In fifteen minutes, this place would be crawling with professional heroes!  
  
They had did it!  
  
But before they did anything else, even any kind of self congratulations, they saw it. One of those swirling vortexes that was used by the League of Villain's main transportation. Kurogiri. The Black Mist!  
  
Stepping out of the Portal was Kurogiri... and Tomura Shigaraki.  
  
"... ... ... Chairface is working with the League of Villains...?" Aphid whispered to himself, pressing himself closer. He needed to see what they were talking about! If he could get an image of Shigaraki's lips, Mei's mask would do the rest and read them. It'd only be one half of a conversation, but they could figure it out from there!  
  
It was an idea that just about everyone else had.  
  
Unfortunately for the vigilant heroes in training, the glass of the sky light wasn't designed to take such strain, cracks in the glass forming like spider webs and then...  
  
CRASH!  
  
The 8 of them fell through the glass! If it wasn't for quick thinking from Dive Bomber, who knew what would happen, but the 8 managed to all land on their feet, the compensators in the boots of their costumes making up for the height!  
  
"... oh?" Chairface sounded intrigued. "What's this? The Tick's little sidekick... aaaww, he brought friends." He made a throat chopping motion with his hand. "Kill them."  
  
And that was when all hell broke loose! The Triggermen didn't need more then just a single word from their boss to attack the children! As for Chairface and his charge, he turned to Shigaraki and Kurogiri.  
  
"I suppose this would be the time for us to make our exit, huh? Sorry for the interruptions, but no plan survives contact with the enemy, after all!" The crime lord shrugged.  
  
"Well, at least we'll have the satisfaction of killing the Tick's friend, so we got that going for us." Shigaraki turned to Kurogiri, who opened a portal. Soon the man with the hands, Chairface, Dean still holding Katsuki, and Kurogiri entered it.  
  
Aphid saw this... he had to do something! He couldn't let them get away!  
  
"Dive Bomber! Take care of this!" He didn't wait for a response, grabbing the two closest to him, Black Diamond and Alien Queen and dashed for the portal! He shoved as much power as he could into his legs, he needed to make it!  
  
And make it he did, dragging his two comrades in arms through the swirling miasma just before it closed!  
  
For a brief moment, there was darkness, as they traveled through the portal crossing the country in a matter of seconds! Aphid barely had the time to turn on his phone and make an emergency call to the Principal's phone! When the darkness subsided, they saw where they were. It wasn't a clearing, but they were certainly in some large open area, almost like an arena!  
  
"My, my, my... I really should be impressed!" Shigaraki said, as he stared at the three Vigilantes, a half dozen Noumu surrounding him. "Instead of just getting to hear about your death, I get to see it first hand!" He clicked his tongue a few times, and shook his head.  
  
Aphid fell into a defensive stance, Black Diamond next to him, Alien Queen behind the two of them.  
  
"If you think we're just going to roll over and die, you got another thing coming, Shigaraki!" Aphid shouted defiantly! "I don't plan on dying here, and I don't plan on leaving with out Katsuki!"  
  
Shigaraki was taken a-back, placing a hand on his chest, his smallest finger not touching. "What heart? Truly I have been moved by your words and will let you leave with one of UA's top students."  
  
"... really?" Alien Queen sounded just a bit too hopeful!  
  
"... no." Was Shigaraki's flat reply. "I'm going to kill all three of you." He gestured to the Noumu, the slavering monsters charging at the three teens!


	63. Issue 57

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA Issue 57  
  
It was six vs three. Of those three, only two were any form of invulnerable! And the monsters they were facing? They heavily muscled, with wicked claws and fangs and bulging biceps, charging at them, faster and faster and faster still! Aphid felt the sweat on his neck run cold, trying to run what he can do.  
  
The focus? Protect Alien Queen. He didn't know how many hits she could take from a monster like that, but he was certain that he didn't want to find out. On the other hand, Black Diamond was just as tough as he was, but he didn't have the ability to dish it out! It seemed the other vigilante had the same thought, as they both took up a defense in front of the third.  
  
"We're really doing this, aren't we?" Black Diamond said, the monsters almost in striking distance!  
  
"Welcome to my life!" Aphid replied, bringing his hands up. The only thing he could do, the only thought on his mind, was throwing one of these monsters!  
  
There was a brief moment where they were distracted by a humming sound behind them... and then followed by the zorching sound as a beam of light fired between the two of them and struck one of the Noumu, holing it's torso.  
  
"I... may have given Mei a few pointers on developing laser weaponry..." Alien Queen replied. "... it'll take a minute or two to recharge, though!"  
  
A minute? ... he could do this! They both could! And with a mighty crash, the charge of the monsters broke upon Aphid and Black Diamond! The two holding back the monsters, heaving and pushing! Iron hard, razor sharp claws scraping against their bodies, as they avoid snapping jaws!  
  
"You know..." Aphid said, straining under the force of holding back the black tide of muscle. "If this whole hero thing doesn't work out, maybe I can try my luck at American Football!"  
  
"Weren't you the one that told me bantering had a time and a place!?" Black Diamond was straining just the same! They couldn't just do defense, they had to do something! It wasn't enough to defend, they had to attack! He dug his one foot in, and drove his knee into the gut of one of the monsters, sending it back!  
  
They could do this!  
  
"Yeah, I suppose I did." Aphid didn't have to go and acknowledged that he agreed with Black Diamond's thought on attacking instead of defending, as his skull met the skull of a monster, a loud crack filling the air! They were pushing them back! They were doing this! One step... then two! They could do this!  
  
Yards away, Shigaraki was watching it, along with Chairface. He rolled his eyes, tilted his head to the side, and snapped his fingers. Three more Noumu entered the fray, charging in with their brothers.  
  
"Why don't we go some where more comfortable?" He suggested to the American, who nodded in agreement. "We still need our little chat with our guest!" With that said, the two left, the Butterfly Nut-Case stilling carrying Katsuki around, the ash blonde straining to see three strangers that were trying to help him, save him, rescue him! And their five friends across town, fighting the goons that kept him confined for the last few days.  
  
... ... ... that was how a real hero was supposed to act!

* * *

She didn't even have a chance to react when Aphid called out to her, telling Dive Bomber to take care of this, when he grabbed Alien Queen and Black Diamond and went into the Black Mist's portal after Katsuki. Aphid was a real hero, through and through, but was there any way that she could stand up to such an example?  
  
She couldn't think of it too much, though. As the thugs that made up the Triggermen Society began to open fire! She was never more thankful for the training she did during the build up the Sports Festival. It gave her the situational awareness needed to avoid the kind a storm of projectiles! And she was thankful for Gun Head, too. The martial arts training was what allowed her to dodge the aim of these thugs!  
  
She touched her hand to a large canister, a 500 gallon drum, letting her quirk work it's magic! She hoisted it into the air and pitched it away from herself! Throwing it like one would throw a ball at three of the thugs! Then she touched her finger tips together and then bam! Down they went!  
  
They were beatable. They could be defeated! Besides, the heroes were on the way! They could do this! They just had to hold off the mobsters until the pros arrived!  
  
... ... ... but she wasn't just going to hold off! No! It's there bed now, they had to make it! The pros were expecting to come in and surprise a bunch of villains and gangsters, not a full on war between teenage vigilantes and the League of Villains!  
  
She could do this! They could all do this! What she had to do... she had to be a leader and she had to protect her team! And that's just what she did! Hoisting up an electric pallet jack, she charged a group of thugs harassing Dark Wine and Railgun, sweeping them aside as she turned her quirk off at the last moment!  
  
"You two alright?" She asked the two other costumed vigilantes. She could see the nervous look on their faces, see the fear in their trembling lips as they steeled themselves and nodded.  
  
"HELL YEAH!" Dark Wine finally jumped to his feet. "Let's show these bozos who's boss!" Railgun was right with him!  
  
"We really going to do this, aren't we?" The blonde asked, firing off another ferro rod.  
  
"... yeah, yeah we are." Dive Bomber replied. "The sooner we knock these guys out, the sooner we can join the other three!" She turned to the other two, seeing Red Engine run literal circles around the gangsters and Ignite's flames keep any reinforcements at bay!  
  
"You wouldn't happen to know how long it'll take for the pros to show up, would you?" Red Engine's voice carried over to her as he blitzed alongside her. The plan was that as soon as they sent the message, it would take five to ten minutes for the pros to come in. Aphid and the other two disappeared into the portal almost four minutes ago.  
  
"One to six minutes. Think we could could hold out?" She asked the armor clad hero.  
  
"... doesn't matter if I think we can or can't... we're going to anyway." And took off again, slamming into another one of those grotesque foreign criminals!

* * *

"... and that was how I managed to acquire Speak! Man's best friend! Sure, he's not the prettiest looking dog, but he sure is smart!" The Tick paused, as he brought the coffee mug to his lips. "You know, thinking about it, I should probably give Arthur a call! See how Speak is doing in his care!" The man he was talking to was a fellow hero, a defender of Justice! Another lonely heart on this road of broken dreams!  
  
Apparently the man in the All Might hoodie was a superhero as well! They had met on this dark and dreary night, as the Tick was out patrolling! Sure, it was mostly just the same. Help a granny across the street, get a kitten out of tree, take heavy grocery bags up three flights of stairs!  
  
"Ha! Multiple trips, you say? Do you mean... the walk of shame!?" He had a half dozen bags hanging from each arm when he met the Hauler! Who was doing much of the same! This, of course, wasn't the first time the two had met, oh no... many a year ago, back when it was just him and the Aphid against the world! They ran into the Hauler, Pop Step, and Knuckleduster!  
  
It's why he was currently at a diner, saddled up to the counter, drinking a cup of coffee, black of course! Because that was exactly what heroes did!  
  
"So... how are you and your lady friend and mentor doing, Young Hauler?" The Tick asked the young man in the All Might hoodie.  
  
"It's... you know, it's doesn't matter what it's supposed to be." He looked dejected for a brief moment, before continuing. "Pop Step is... that's complicated. We're complicated, I guess. She's still doing the flash concerts, but..." He sighed. "It's risky business, is what it is! You got All Might, the Symbol of Peace giving you his mark of approval! For other vigilantes? We're not so lucky."  
  
There was a pause, he sipped at his own latte.  
  
"Knuckleduster's retired." Was his solemn reply. That tone of voice... the Tick had heard that before, and nodded.  
  
"You have my sympathies, sport! But he'll always be with you if you carry his words in your heart! For that is how we truly achieve immortality, is it not!? For our lessons to trickle down the generation, slowly and surely, as the first stream carves a path through the desert before becoming a MIGHTY RIVER!" The Tick's voice was booming, as he stood up, arms wide!  
  
"... yeah, I guess you're right. How about the kid that was with you? He keepin' out of trouble?"  
  
"Oh, I certainly hope not! A hero is at his best when surrounded by danger!" And his antenna sparked and twitched. "EGADS! My Aphid senses are tingling! THE POOR LAD IS IN TROUBLE!" He reached into his pockets and pulled out a handful of 500 yen coins, slamming them hard enough on the counter to causing a crack.  
  
"Sorry to cut and run, my boy! But I must be off!" He raced out of the building, before leaping into the air!  
  
"SPOOOOOOOOON!"

* * *

The plan was a disaster, it was in shambles! The original plan that the children had as a good one, and he weighed the chances of them succeeding. It's why he chose to speak up when he did during that meeting a few days ago. Oh, yes. There was no way that the kids would have told him or his teacher before attempting their rescue mission!  
  
This really did deal with multiple birds with one stone for the Principal. On one hand, he was going to be able to gauge Tenya Iida's recovery. If he could work together, go beyond some of his baser prejudices, and show that he had what it took to be a hero? Well, Nedzu was going to place him back into the Hero Course for the start of the second semester.  
  
... but probably not in Aizawa's class. The man took logic too a hard line edge that left no room for compromise. He wouldn't be surprised if the man was completely colorblind, the way he saw things black and white.  
  
On the other hand, it was also a way to make sure the children didn't do anything foolhardy in their quest to rescue their classmate. That was why he gave them his blessing and support! To keep them safe!  
  
But that was neither here nor there, the main issue at hand was that he has five of his students fighting for their lives in one part of the city against American criminals and he had three others fighting for their lives against the League of Villains in another part of town!  
  
And worse then that, while he knew where Izuku Midoriya, Eijiro Kirishima, and Mina Ashido were, there was no way that he could get any actual numbers to assist there! He already sent the call to Midnight, telling her that as soon as they were done in Hoshikara Ward to head over to Kamino Ward and assist...  
  
Well, the only choice he did have, really, was All Might and Endeavor. Backed up by Eraserhead, Present Mic, Snipe, and Hound Dog.  
  
He even told Midnight to bring the students, as well. They would need all hands on deck and these were the only ones he could get at such a short notice! Thankfully Mount Lady, Kamui Woods, and Mirko were assisting with the effort in Hoshikara and agreed to help out against the League of Villains.  
  
... he only hoped that this night didn't end with one filled with regrets.

* * *

"So... Bakugo... Katsuki, you mind if I call you Katsuki?" Tomura asked, as he walked into the more... lounge part of the bar. They closed off the pub for the night. For tonight, tonight was fortuitous, they would recruit a mole in UA and the Death of All Might would only be a few more plots away. It was enough to make him shiver.  
  
"Fffffuck you!" The bastard replied. He was bruised and beaten... looked like Chairface's patience could only go so far. Not that he blamed the American for being... well... American.  
  
"That's what I thought, Katsuki." He took a seat up on the counter. "So, you want to know why you're here, Katsuki? I'm sure Chairface gave you his whole spiel, kidnapping for money or whatever."  
  
"The fucking fuck told me enough!" Oooh, fucking fuck. They must have gotten along swimmingly!  
  
"Oh, I suppose you think we want to kill you or worse, don't you?" Tomura chuckled to himself. "It's not about that at all. See, I know everything about you, Katsuki Bakugo." He lifted up a folder as thick as Katsuki's wrist. "You got to love the government, sometimes, with all it's book keeping, is a villainous mastermind's best friend! And I love the highlights. This one especially! Your best friend from childhood finally comes back into your life and the first thing you do? You start to bully him." He tossed it Katsuki, letting the weight of his sins spill around him.  
  
Everything he did when he was a kid. When he was in middle school. Every single act of bastardry, every single act of bullying, every single act of proving himself better then everyone else.  
  
Having it all at his feet like this, it really made him think, seeing the papers scattered around him.  
  
"Seems to me, Katsuki... you're more of a villain then a hero. Hell, way I see it? You're already a villain as it is, why not make it official?" ... oh. That's what he was talking about. They wanted to recruit him? To have him give up and prove EVERYONE RIGHT!?  
  
FUCK THAT SHIT!  
  
"... you know what... I think I got my answer right here for you..." He looked at Tomura Shigaraki, the fuck with the hands... and attacked him! Throwing a punch that was slapped out of the way by the leader of the League of Villains.  
  
"Oh well. At least I tried. More then what I can say about you! Right now, you're just a quirkless loser! What do you plan on doing to me!?" The mocking lilt to his voice, it was just too much for Katsuki to take and kicked at Tomura!  
  
"FUCKING DIE ALREADY!" Katsuki shouted, seeing the look of disdain, that horrible smirk even as Tomura proved a point by letting the blow land. That he was nothing without his quirk!  
  
He was in for a hell of a shock when the explosion happened, blowing Katsuki's shoe off and sending the man with the hands flying back into the bar, the one of his face landing some feet away from him.  
  
So was Katsuki for that matter.

* * *

The fight against the Noumu was an uphill battle of Sisyphyean proportions! They had to fight the monsters, defend Alien Queen, and keep them back! With a minute or two warm up time for the raygun used by the girl from another star, the bulk of the fight was carried by Aphid and Black Diamond.  
  
He wasn't sure if he could keep this up! This was harder then the fight with Muscular in the way. That was a single boss fight with vanilla mechanics. This was a DPS fight with a timer and he wasn't sure that the three of them could do it on their own.  
  
There were things that Aphid believed about heroes. How a hero that was broken would smile, because that's what heroes did, especially when he was hurt. How a hero that stood up every time he fell down was an example of courage everyone should live by! How a hero protected everyone before himself.  
  
But he was starting to figure out the dilemma of the life saver. He couldn't save everyone if he was dead or in the hospital. How long would he let his body be battered by evil before it cracked, before it broke?  
  
... ... ...  
  
None of that mattered, it was just nattering. Distracting him from what was important! He felt One for All surge through his limbs and lashed out with a fist, slamming into the side of one of the Noumu and sending it flying with a crash!  
  
"Doesn't matter..." It became a mantra to him. "Not going to let them win!" He struck again, sending another Noumu flying! "All that matters... is doing whats RIGHT!" He slapped his hands together and created a shockwave, driving the monsters back. They could do this. He could do this.  
  
And then another door opened and a dozen more monsters came barreling in, pushing and shoving against each other as they ran across the battlefield.  
  
"... Izuku..." Black Diamond called Aphid by his real name. "We're going to die here, aren't we?" How was he supposed to answer that? Did he say that they were going to make it, possibly lying? Or give into despair...?  
  
"Probably." He took a third option. "But why don't we make them work for it!?" He steeled himself, he set his jaw, and he prepared to fight!  
  
And then the Wild Blue Yonder crashed through the roof!  
  
"Aphid, my boy! I'm so disappointed! Starting a party without inviting me, the TICK!? FOR SHAME!" He stomped his foot with a mighty blow causing the whole battlefield to buckle and shake, sending the monsters flying, the Tick laughing heartily the entire time!  
  
Only interrupted by the sound of a single, solitary man clapping.  
  
"You're no All Might..." The Man said, stepping into the light. He was wearing a smart suit, but his head... it was the worst burn that any of the trainee heroes had seen! "But I suppose I need a warm up before Toshinori shows up..."  
  
"HA! Do your worst, Potato Head! FOR I AM MIERGH!" The man had blurred and buried his fist into the Tick's torso, catching the American vigilante off guard, blood spattering out of his mouth. The man pulled his fist back, as the Tick took a step back.  
  
"I'm actually impressed... that would've killed All Might." His arm was a mass of muscle and machinery, before shifting back into something far more normal, the Tick just smiled, blood dribbling out of his mouth.  
  
"Sorry, friend..." He gave a weak laugh. "But I'm nigh invulnerable! And if it's a whoopin' you're-a wantin'... I suppose I'll just have to tag the Mighty Man in when he shows up! SPOOOOOOON!" And the Tick charged the man... the monster known only as... All for One.


	64. Issue 58

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue 58  
  
Minoru Mineta... the Hero Grape Juice... and for the time being, the Vigilante Dark Wine... was a lot of things. He was short. He had a weird quirk. He liked girls. But what he lacked in physical might, even with Mei's... power upgrade, he made up in his intelligence.  
  
It's why he knew that he was going to die tonight.  
  
And yet... the young man he was only a few months ago would have been cowering in a corner, unable to do anything. Probably wouldn't have agreed to this whole cockamamie plan to try and get Katsuki Bakugo rescued! If he was to be honest with himself, he was still scared out of his wits, he always was.  
  
He was always told that being a hero wasn't about being fearless. But that didn't stop him from feeling like a coward every time he cried, every time he shied away from danger, every time he wanted to run away.  
  
... ... ... he was so scared that he couldn't even do that, his legs wouldn't work the right way! That part he wasn't very proud of kept telling them to run away, but they were moving on their own! Making great use of Pop-Off: Whip It to pull the guns out of those thugs and putting his pint size body to use as a gut check for some of the larger gangsters.  
  
He may be small and he may not be a strong as the others, but when he got some distance, he could really hit hard! He managed to pull such a maneuver on the headless creep, before ducking behind an industrial printer. He found Denki there as well.  
  
"Well... what a night!" Minoru said, resetting his pompadour as best he could. He was surprised how well this hair relaxer work.  
  
"You want me to sum up my thoughts on the matter...?" Denki asked, every now and then he had to reset his ammo supply and he was running low as it was.  
  
"Probably the same as mine."  
  
"Oh god, oh god I'm going to die?"  
  
"Yeah... that sounds about right." He slipped the comb back into his coat pocket. "Ready to go back out?" Minoru watched as Denki slapped his face a few times.  
  
"Yeah, let's go scream in death's face!" And they both leapt out of cover! As the roof of the warehouse was ripped open and right there... was the one. The only.  
  
Mount Lady!  
  
And she wasn't alone! Kamui Woods, Mirko, and Midnight were there as well!  
  
... ... ... maybe this was just what they needed!

* * *

The Noumu were defeated, but there was one last monster standing before them! Izuku wasn't sure what to do, what to say, what to think! There was too much that could go wrong and this... this was the first time he ever saw the Tick bleed, and yet here he was... fighting a monster as far beyond him as the Tick was beyond regular villains.  
  
He pulled along Eijiro and Mina. "C'mon, we'll let the Tick handle this. We still got Katsuki to find!" He wasn't going to tell them that he didn't want to watch the fight. It wasn't like anything that he ever saw before, watching the Tick go all out like he was but...  
  
Izuku didn't want to watch the Tick die if it came to that. And they still had a job to do, even if it changed several times over this night! They left the Noumu Proving grounds, heading into the HQ proper and...  
  
"You hear that?" Izuku asked, and Eijiro nodded.  
  
"Is that... that sounds like explosions!" That could only mean one thing.  
  
"I think Katsuki is fighting back!" Mina said, as they followed the sound of the explosions, Izuku in the lead! One powered leap and kick and they went right through the door. And what they found was the four villains that took Katsuki!  
  
... ... ... it was the strangest thing, watching the ash blonde use his FEET to cause his explosions instead of his hands, but... it didn't matter!  
  
"KATSUKI!" Izuku shouted, as he charged the large... whatever the hell it was that Chairface used as a bodyguard, hitting it with a single shoulder tackle, sending him... it? Flying!  
  
"Took your sweet time getting here, Midoriya!" Katsuki said to the costumed teenager.  
  
"... I... what...?" Izuku was surprised... how did he...?  
  
"Less talking, more fighting! Ejiro, Mina! Time to put those stupid team maneuvers into play!" And just like that, Katsuki was moving with the so called Bakusquad. They were moving... well, not as a single unit, but they knew each others strengths and weaknesses and could cover accordingly.  
  
That meant that they could take on the various, low rent goons that were hired out by the League of Villains this time... with left Izuku to deal with the Wingnut Strangler!  
  
"Alright, big man! Let's dance!"

* * *

This... was the hardest fight for the Tick. The absolute hardest he ever faced. Not the Big Nothing, not that Black Hole, not the Fin, not the Proto Clown... truly, all of those paled in comparison to the veritable monster he was facing down right now. He wasn't sure if he could win this, but if Potato Head expected All Might to show up, then it was up to the Tick to do his best to keep this one tied down!  
  
Though... that wound his took int he opening salvo... staining his costume purple... that was unexpected. He couldn't remember the last time he was hurt, let along bleed! But he was NIGH INVULNERABLE! He was not going to let some fried potato villain take him out so easily! He couldn't say he didn't take a step back, but he wasn't going to fall!  
  
Nor was he going to fail!  
  
The kids were counting on him! The heroes were counting on him! All Might was counting on him! So he grit his teeth, he set his jaw, swallowed the pain, and struck out with a mighty blow! A step to the side and the man in the suit dodged it with the greatest of ease.  
  
"Look at you..." The man said, turning to face the Tick as the force of the blow tore the arena up ever more then it already had been! "All that power, all the strength, all that durability... and yet, you're absolutely mad!"  
  
"You've yet to see me mad, Potato Head!" The Tick replied, managing to smile, as he changed tactics, using an open hand and managing to his opponent and threw him with all his might!  
  
... it worked about as well as he thought it would, as the man seemed to right himself in mid air and came charging right at him! But the Tick was ready, managing to strike a blow, landing it true! He let out a snort, his defense was down just long enough to take one himself.  
  
"... And you're still standing..." The man in the suit seemed impressed.  
  
"You know what this fight lacks, Potato Head...?" The Tick said, his voice straining against the pain, against his wounds, against the power of this monster. "BETTER OPTICS!" He latched on to the monster in the suit and leapt straight up! Crashing through the ceiling, through the rock, through the soil launching himself and his opponent into the air above Kamino Ward!  
  
The man kicked off him as they went into a free fall!  
  
"I don't know how you keep doing this..." The man said to the Tick, as they fell along side each other. "Each hit you took is a killing blow, you should be dead ten times over!"  
  
"Ha! I'll tell you the same thing I told the Handyman! I won't die because I don't want too!" And he slammed into the pavement, making a mighty crack and a mightier crater! Alright people were talking about the Tick's entrance into the League's Headquarters.  
  
Better optics? Right, that suited the man in the suit just fine. He'd kill the Tick, then when All Might finally shows up... well, he'd kill the Symbol of Peace while the whole world watched!  
  
His revelry was cut off as he was struck on the back, sending skidding across the pavement. The Tick had sucker punched him! He stood up, cracking his neck, looking over his American opponent.  
  
"It may not have been very heroic, but I'm just giving as good as I get!" The Tick was smiling, because that's what a Hero did! AGAINST ALL ODDS!  
  
"Well said, friend... well said!" And there he was. All Might. The Number One Hero of All Japan. The Symbol of Peace. He was soon beside the Tick, hand on the Wild Blue Yonder's shoulder. "Leave this villain to me, friend! Help the others with the civilians! Everything is going to be alright!" Before he threw the Tick to the other heroes that had arrived!  
  
Endeavor. Eraserhead. Present Mic. Ectoplasm. Snipe. Hound Dog. Cementoss! Not only that, Mount Lady, Mirko, Midnight, and Kamui Woods were there! And so were the kids! They were told to do one thing and one thing only, get the civilians out of the way of the fight between titans that was about to happen right now!  
  
News copters were in the air. News crews were on the ground, a safe distance away. This was happening.  
  
The Symbol of Peace. The Symbol of Evil.  
  
Only one of them was going to walk away from this.  
  
"Still favoring your left side, Yagi?" All for One asked, looking down range to All Might. "Honestly, I thought you would be dead by now, that I would just let your own sense of self-righteousness prove me wrong, but here we are. I suppose time makes fools of us all!"  
  
He didn't wait for the Symbol of Peace to reply, just charged at him. The same speedy strike that almost laid the Tick low! That almost took out that insane nuisance! But All Might was cannier then the Tick! Using All for One's immense power against him, and hip tossed him to the side.  
  
"Still predictable after five years, All for One! I know all your tricks!" His smile was forced, but there were few times in the last half decade that it wasn't. Time limit or no, it didn't matter. He was going to end this, once and for all. To think that All for One was behind the League of Villains? It made sense in hindsight.  
  
He let out a grunt when All for One struck back, a blow grazing him by the side, taking out even more of the street. He had to end this quickly, efficiently, and...  
  
... if so be it...  
  
... lethally!  
  
He was too much of a hero, sometimes. And almost like the time so many months ago, when he was practically at his time limit... fighting the Noumu! But this was worse then that!  
  
He had maybe minutes left for today, before he needed to rest. He needed to finish this as fast as he could, as fast as possible!  
  
But to be a hero was to risk one's life in the service of others! No matter what! No matter if he was taking blows that would shatter buildings! No matter that he was being hit with forces that could destroy mountains!  
  
He was All Might! The Symbol of Peace!  
  
And he would not fail again!  
  
He was trading blow after blow after blow with All for One, as they practically blurred across the landscape!  
  
"You are getting weaker, Yagi! And I've just grown stronger. Sure, there were some set backs, but here we are!" All for One was taunting him. "Even if you were at a hundred percent, you couldn't beat me now!"  
  
"Perhaps I couldn't, All for One! But that just means I have to go beyond 100 percent... and beat you anyway!" He poured everything he had into his body! Hitting All for One as hard as he had ever hit anyone before...  
  
... ... ... and then it felt as if he had been struck. No, not by All for One... but by something else. Something inside of him! The fumes he had been running on for the last five years... finally dried out as steam surrounded the symbol of peace... and he deflated!  
  
There were gasps, there were cries of anguish from the civilians! And the dark laughter of All for One!  
  
"I knew it! I KNEW IT! I may not have killed you five years ago, Yagi, but I did one better! YOU BURNT YOURSELF OUT!" He approached the skeletal, dessicated Number 1 Hero of All Japan. "I think... I think I'm going to enjoy killing you more then I did Nana. I just wish I could revenge on you twice like I did her, but I doubt you have a grand son somewhere I can kidnap and twist like I did her's."  
  
The monster in the shape of a man. The Symbol of Evil shrugged. "Oh, well!" He laugheda gain, a dark cruel thing before he was struck again!  
  
... Toshinori Yagi... blood spewing from his mouth, determination burning in his eyes.  
  
"You... are a monster! AND THIS! THIS IS THE END!" Even in his weakened state, he was standing as strong as a man suffering from injuries as grievous as his could, as the last dying embers of One for All flared deep inside him, like a star going supernova.  
  
All for One could see it, too, much as a man with no eyes could.  
  
"... no... NO! I refuse to accept this ending, Symbol of Peace!" He didn't expect this, nothing he knew about his brother's quirk could... should allow this to happen!  
  
"It doesn't require you to accept it or not, Symbol of Evil!" All Might said gravely, as he felt that final burst of near unlimited power. "UNITED STATES OF...!"  
  
And he connected.  
  
**"SMASH!"**  
  
The power behind such an attack was immense. It was like a bomb going off, it was like a hundred bombs going off. It was the most powerful force unleashed in Japan since the second World War! The entire area whited out as a wave of force went flying across Kamino Ward.  
  
Civilian. Hero. Student. Were knocked flat, knocked out, and but had the knowledge that All Might... had won.  
  
But Toshinori Yagi was smiling a bitter smiling, laughing a bitter laugh. He had stood and All for One had fallen... but at what cost. He was sitting on his knees, in the middle of the crater that made up a quarter of Kamino Ward's downtown district. Thankfully the other heroes were capable of quickly evacuating everyone while he had that monster distracted.  
  
And then he heard the clapping and laughing. He looked up... and looked onto another monster.  
  
A monster that should have been dead. That a hero even greater then he defeated long ago.  
  
"Oh, what's that? Surprised?" It was the Terror. But... it couldn't be. A mad man wearing a crown and chain mail coif, a slick suit jacket, looking like the evil monster he was. "So am I! I feel 90 years young again! But it doesn't matter!" He pointed over to All for One, barely stirring as the Terror's soldiers bound the Symbol of Evil.  
  
"You know how long I've waited for this with baited breath? Over a hundred years!" He put an arm around Toshinori's soldier. "Look at him! Look at that beautiful repository of quirks! The things I'm going to do with him..." He let out a sigh, as All for One was loaded into what looked like a coffin.  
  
"But enough about that! You should be rejoicing, Toshinori! The monster is defeated! You can finally rest! Take it from me, retirement is amazing!" He snapped his fingers, one of his soldiers coming up to him and handing the Terror his side arm. "It'll all be over soon!"  
  
He pulled back the hammer... he aimed at the weakened, helpless symbol of peace.  
  
"Sire..." The soldier spoke, interrupting the execution! "... someone is on the way, we should make our leave!" The Terror sighed and slumped his shoulders.  
  
"You win this round, but... I doubt there'll be a next time." He walked away, joining the rest of his men. "Door on me!" And space seemed to warp and they were gone and finally blackness over took Toshinori Yagi.


	65. Issue 59

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue 59  
  
Izuku Midoriya had replayed that fight in his head... when Tick and All Might took out that Noumu back at the USJ. He ever asked Aizawa-sensei if they had any footage he could study. The way their arms seemed to blur as they kept punching that monster!  
  
The blonde villain that attacked him at the camp, they had too much open space, he couldn't get close in. But with the Wingnut Strangler? He was up close, he was personal, and he did just that! He put study into practice! His arms blurred as he landed multiple blows!  
  
"AAAAAAAA!" He let out a primal cry as he finished with a single haymaker, sending the monstrous gangster stumbling back! He was out of breath, his arms were smoking, and they ached... they ached so much, but it felt good!  
  
Chairface watched at the goon that was his go to bodyguard raise off his feet and nearly fly through a wall.  
  
"Well... Dean's done. Kurogiri! I think it's time we make our escape!" The Black Mist had his hands full with two of the youngsters, and Tomura... Tomura was just inconsolable as stared at the same corner where the hand that he wore as his mask was resting.  
  
"Agreed! Tomura! We're leaving!" Kurogiri's voice seemed to stir Tomura, who turned to the League of Villain's resident teleporter.  
  
"What? NO! We can't! Not without..." He pulled away, only to hear Kurogiri sigh, before the man clobbered Tomura, knocking him unconscious and the supervillains made their escape. Black inky portals swirling into existence, as the League of Villain's leadership disappeared into them.  
  
A small part of Izuku was thankful for it, slumping down, finally able to catch a breather. Non stop fighting since they got to the warehouse... falling through the skylight... fighting the Noumu... fighting against the villains. He looked up and saw Katsuki grab the hand that Shigaraki was crazy about.  
  
"What are you doing, Katsuki...?" Izuku asked, finally pulling himself to his feet.  
  
"What? You saw how that fuck was fascinated with this... maybe the cops can figure out who he is with it." Katsuki said, like he was gathering evidence. It made sense, so Izuku didn't fault him. "Now you two!" Katsuki said, turning to face Eijiro and Mina. "We're going to have a discussion. About the Bakusquad. In private."  
  
"Damn it, Katsuki! If you want to make out with them, just say so!" Izuku shook his head, as Katsuki went off on him, saying he didn't know what the fuck he was talking about! Izuku focused on more important things then Katsuki's love life.  
  
"... how do we get out...?" He barely said the words... when a loud explosion occurred! On the surface! ... ... ... the Tick... he took that monster to the surface... could that... did it mean? The trip to the surface was a few flights of stairs into the ruins of the bar itself, and outside... was a complete horror.  
  
"What... what happened?" In the distance, the four heroes in training could see a crowd of unconscious people... and in the middle of a crater... was All Might.  
  
Or what was left of him. The blonde skeleton, wearing an All Might costume that was several sizes too big.  
  
"... All... All MIGHT!" And Izuku took off running, the three following behind him.  
  
"Ah... Young Midoriya... and company." Toshinori Yagi was out of breath, but he had survived and he felt... relieved. "... it's gone, son... I..." He sighed, hanging his head, taking a deep breath and actually not coughing it. It was like a weight was lifted off of his shoulders and for once...  
  
It didn't matter.  
  
"Who... is this All Might, Midoriya?" Katsuki was confused, but he had every right to be.  
  
"Aye... that I am lad. I am All Might. Or I was..." The blonde replied. Izuku gulped. Could he do it... did it matter any more...?  
  
"Katsuki... you remember how I was quirkless? And that you never believed I was just a late bloomer...?" He didn't even wait for Katsuki to respond. "All Might passed his quirk on to me and now... you defeated that monster, down there. That man in the suit. That was All for One. Did you kill him...?"  
  
That laugh that followed was a hollow sound. "Completely obliterated him, lad!" He gave a smile. He was still a hero, dammit, and heroes smiled! "Take that as a very important less, children. Sometimes... sometimes a villain is so bad... that you have to stop them. Permanently, lethally so."  
  
They helped him up to his feet. "But in putting an end to All for One... I managed to burn out the last of my amazing power, Young Midoriya. But as I had surpassed my predecessor, so will you surpass me! Especially with your rivals and friends! I see... a bright future ahead of us."  
  
There was a shift of rubble around them, and the Tick sat up. "I'm fine everybody!" He was nursing his side, as he pulled himself up to his feet. "... that... was something else, wasn't it?" Izuku looked at the Tick, his eyes wide.  
  
"Are... are you alright?" There was a nasty wound in the Tick's side, an ugly purple stain on his blue costume. The Tick smiled and laughed heartily on his wobbly feet.  
  
"I'm fine! Really! Nothing a few bandages wouldn't solve! Really!" He slapped his wounded side, once then twice, still smiling but it was obviously strained.  
  
People were starting to come too. First the heroes, then the students, and finally the civilians. All Might was front and center... supported by Eijiro and Katsuki.  
  
"Any questions can be directed to Might Tower!" All Might said, rolling his head back. "In fact... I'll be holding a press conference at UA in the new few days to explain what just happened. In the mean, myself and these young heroes... need to recuperate and recover."  
  
With that said, the reporters turned to the Tick, and started a series of questions to him instead. "Eh... read my lips! No comments!" The group of reporters seemed to part, as the authorities arrived. The various heroes and heroes in training were heading out as well, as the civilians gave their statements.  
  
Toshinori Yagi was riding to the hospital, seeing that one of the kids... that Katsuki Bakugo... left something with him. The hand that the leader of the League of Villain's wore on his face. He remembered what All for One had said. About Nana's grandson.  
  
... ... ... he sighed, looking to the driver. "I need to borrow your cellphone. It's important."  
The last couple days at the Midoriya Household was... something else. The Tick... was refusing to go to the hospital. Just being couch ridden with bandages wrapped around his torso. Izuku wasn't sure if this was the best of ideas, but there it was. That's what you get for living with a super strong, super tough super hero.

* * *

Then again, there were... some types on the television that were going crazy about the Tick, and not in the good way they were a few months ago. No, the Tick was being blamed for the Horror in Kamino, as it was being called. That if it wasn't for him, All Might would still be for the people of Japan, instead of whatever he was now! That if it wasn't for the Tick, then that whole mess wouldn't have happened!  
  
Izuku thought about it. If it wasn't for the Tick, Izuku would have gone deeper into his depression. If it wasn't for the Tick, Izuku wouldn't have found a new love for heroes. If it wasn't for the Tick... he wouldn't have run towards Katsuki when the blonde was being held by the Sludge Monster.  
  
Meaning he wouldn't have impressed All Might, wouldn't have inherited his quirk, and wouldn't be his successor!  
  
So in fact, the Tick by coming to Japan in fact saved it!  
  
At least he didn't have to worry about All for One. At least that war was over, and he didn't have to look over his shoulder for the rest of his life.  
  
He was interrupted by his revelry by a knock at the door. He sighed, going to answer it. The Tick wasn't going to, and his mom was out.  
  
But as soon as he opened the door, he immediately regretted it. On the other side...  
  
"AAAAAAH! HEYS!" And he slammed the door on the pair of nihilistic aliens! How could they know who he was? Where he lived!  
  
"Agh! My hand! MY FOOT! And I'm not an alien!" The there was a hand and a foot stuck in the shut door. "Just open the door so I could pull my limbs out!" Izuku quirked an eyebrow, but opened the door just the same.  
  
"Damn, that smarts." The heavy set man said, the woman sighed.  
  
"What he means to say is that we're friends of the Tick. I'm Carmelita Vatos... this is Arthur Everest. May we come in?" The woman asked, pulling off the bunny like cowl she wore. The man rolled his eyes and did the same, showing that they looked... human enough.

* * *

"... what's this?" Toshinori asked from the bed he was in. Nedzu was visiting him in the hospital. It seemed like too much of a coincidence. The furry weasel dog sighed.  
  
"It's my own resignation. That Horror show in Kamino Ward... it was my fault. I helped the children set up their little mission, I gave them the resources needed... I just wanted... I* wanted them to do it safely and I figured if I had told them to stop, they would have done it behind my back anyway." Nedzu said, with another sigh.  
  
"Besides... you told me that you're retiring, aren't you? You no longer have any bit of One for All left. It's up to Mister Midoriya now to be the Symbol of Peace. Especially with you annihilating All for One like that." Toshinori turned his head.  
  
"All for One isn't gone... All for One was captured." The blonde said.  
  
"I'm sorry? Captured? By whom?" Nedzu was intrigued. Confused, but intrigued just the same.  
  
"I'm not sure I believe it myself... but..." he turned to face the principal. "It was the Terror. The Terror captured All for One and called him a repository of quirks!" It gave him chills to think what the True Symbol of Evil was going to do with All for One.  
  
"... this... we can't let anyone know about this. The Terror? Here? Any plan he has for All for One is not going to do the world any favors. If people knew that the Terror was still around... still alive..." The furry academic headmaster shivered. "The Terror has inspired countless villains over the years. Centuries... even All for One himself was inspired by the Terror! ... no one must know."  
  
"... ... ... it's worse then that. The hand that Tomura Shigaraki wore as his mask? I had Naomasa look into it for me. That hand belonged to Nana Shimura's son in law."  
  
There was a pause, as the principal processed this.  
  
"... does that mean what I think it means?" Toshinori nodded his head, gravely.  
  
"Yes. Tomura Shigaraki is really Tenko Shimura. Nana's grandson. And that monster gloated that he twisted him in a final act of revenge against Nana. As if killing her wasn't enough!" He was quiet after that. He had to be. He throat hurt.  
  
"Oh dear oh dear oh dear... this changes my plans. And here I was was going to name you the new Principal of UA, but that isn't happening. I need time to think. Get well soon, Mister Yagi... I have a feeling we're in the eye of the hurricane..." He rushed off. His retirement could wait!


	66. Annual 5

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Annual #5  
  
Well... this was a thing. Katsuki Bakugo didn't know what to say. The last couple days had been crazy for him and his family. The attack at Summer Camp. Being kidnapped. Having his quirk suppressed by those gangsters. And then being rescued by his classmates. It was... he wasn't sure what to say.  
  
"So..." Mina Ashido said, sitting at the table. So was Eijiro Kirishima. They were... thoughts needed sorting. Lots of sorting. "Are you going to address the elephant in the room?"  
  
They were at a small diner. His parents were taken to a hospital in Hoshikara Ward and Katsuki ended up going home.  
  
Mina and Eijiro joined him.  
  
The blonde swallowed heavily, trying and failing not to blush. "I don't think I know what you're talking about..."  
  
The shaprtoothed non-redhead nodded vigorously in agreement. "Yeah... it was... you know. Just friends... hanging out."  
  
"It was more then just hanging out, you two!" She slammed her hands on the table, standing up quickly! She didn't want to make a scene, but damn it, if they were going to play coy about this! "Let's just say what it is, don't we? Last night... we hung out, let our feelings get the better of us, and had this weird polyamorous make out session!"  
  
She watched as her two boys gulped, smirking as she sat back down. But...  
  
"Though, to be fair..." She placed her hand on a chin. "The two of you seemed a lot more into each other then me."  
  
"You said you didn't tell us to stop!" Katsuki answered back defensively, before shirking back. He admitted it. That happened. A brief moment of weakness.  
  
"Mina, I think... last night was crazy for a lot of reasons. I think it was just... you know... adrenaline and all." Eijiro replied, trying his best to avoid the looks from the other diners, understanding that there gossip was starting to attract attention.  
  
"It's more then just that! Ugh! The elephant in the room isn't the heated, mostly naked make out session from last night, you two! The elephant is that we're all attractive and attracted to each other!" Boys could be so stupid! "Katsuki Bakugo, with his killer abs and defined... everything. Eijiro Kirishima, who's so cut he has sharp edges! And myself, Mina Ashido, Exotic out of this world beauty!" Emphasis on out of this world.  
  
"You're reading way too much into this, Mina!" Katsuki countered.  
  
"Am I, Katsuki? Am I?" She grabbed hold of Eijiro and she pulled him next to her. "Are you telling me that you didn't enjoy making out with either of us last night? Or any of those other things?" She was enjoying watching Katsuki squirm. But she watched him squirm plenty last night!  
  
"What do you want me to say, Mina!? You want me to tell you that last night's sexually charged activities drove me up a wall and then back down and that it's taking every ounce of will power to keep my hands off either of you, despite the fact we're in public?!" Katsuki all but shouted, a blush burning on his face.  
  
"... is it the truth? Is that how you really feel? Does seeing the two of us so close make you wanna blow up?" She smirked at her little pun, holding Eijiro close. When did she become so sadistic? Katsuki took several unsteady breaths, before calling the waitress!  
  
"CHECK PLEASE!"  
  
Outside of the diner, walking down the street, Katsuki was still fuming, still blushing, along side Eijiro and Mina. That... it was just... why was it so hard to sort his feelings out!? It'd just be easier if he could tell them to both fuck off and die and leave them, but he didn't want to do that!  
  
"Can this day get any shittier!?" And that was when it did!"  
  
"Mina, Mina, Mina... I finally found you after so long!" It was a voice that made Mina stop and she started to shake.  
  
"It... it can't be..." As one, they all turned and Mina almost let out a shriek! It was... it was a man, but he had resemblance to Mina. The same black eyes, the same horns, the same bright pink skin.  
  
"What was it you said? If I wanted you to come back and marry my son, I'd have to drag you myself? Well... here I am, dearest Mina!" He was big, almost as tall as Endeavor and just as muscular! Mina grabbed Eijiro and Katsuki by the collar and took off running. "GET BACK HERE, MINA!"  
  
"We have to run, we have to hide, we have to do something!" Mina was muttering to herself as they rounded a corner, the man still cursing after them.  
  
"Mina... who the hell was that!?" Katsuki was super confused. Sure... last night was... confusing, but he really wasn't buying into this whole Mina really being an alien princess!  
  
"It's my uncle! Oh, gosh! I didn't think the Heys would actually go back to him!" Mina was still shaking.  
  
"He's... you said something about how the acid production was something you can all do, right?" Eijiro asked. If they could find out what her uncle was capable of doing, Katsuki could figure out a plan!  
  
"... yea... but he's... the older we get, the more... versatile the acid is. You know how I can make a slick, slippery slime? He can do that same, or he can make something that hardens on impact and could trap us!" Mina looked up at her two friends... the rest of the Bakusquad! "I don't want him to take me!"  
  
Katsuki was trembling. Opening and closing his hands, small crackles forming between his fingers as whatever the bastards had used wore off after a good half hour of scrubbing with hot water and soap. But this... this wasn't going to stand! And he wasn't going to allow it and...!  
  
"Nobody but no one is gonna break up the Bakusquad! And if you're shitty uncle thinks he can, then he's got another thing comin' to him!" He was fired up, he was in a rage. "Eijiro, you with me in protecting our girlfriend, even if she's a bit of a fujo?!" He didn't wait for an answer from Eijiro, before dragging him off with him.  
  
"HEY FUCK FACE!" He shouted as he marched out! "Mina's some kind of princess, ain't she?" The man looked at him, arching a brow.  
  
"She is... and she's picked you to be her prince, eh?" He looked over to Eijiro, as well. "The both of you... I don't know how she or my brother can stand this world. Your stink clings to each other!"  
  
"... whatever!" Katsuki shouted. "Name a Time and Place! Eijiro and I will fight you for Mina!" The man tilted his head.  
  
"Oh... and what if I say right here, right now? What will you do then...? I know all about how you can't use your special abilities in public." The man was smirking... looking down on Katsuki, thinking he did something clever! "But... I am in fact curious just how powerful you humans can be. Fine. If you wish to fight for Mina, then you will have your chance."  
  
He looked over to his niece, nodding his head. "Be seeing you, Mina!" And walked off, laughing. Katsuki felt his eye twitch.  
  
"... Eijiro... you with me on this? First chance we get, that shiteater is going down!"  
  
"Yeah... yeah I'm with ya Bakubro!" Eijiro nodded enthusiastically! "I'm not letting some slimy bastard steal our girlfriend, either!" They slapped their hands together in a manly display of comradery. Mina blinked. Sure, it was a bit... well... camp macho, but...  
  
Katsuki and Eijiro were going to fight for her. And that... that made her feel... she was actually blushing! Maybe they can make this work, after all!


	67. Issue 60

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue 60  
  
It was an interesting experience, having the two American super heroes in his living room. Sure, Izuku freaked out just a bit when he first thought that they were alien assassins, but it turned out they were nothing of the sort! In fact, it turned out that they were friends of the Tick!  
  
"So... he's currently asleep in the guest room. He didn't want to go to the hospital, so we just slapped some bandages on him. We... weren't sure if he could even take his costume off." Izuku had tea for his guests.  
  
"The Tick is normally one tough cookie, but... he made international news. We saw him fight that monster and... kid, you don't understand. I worked with the Tick for a good while and I never saw him bleed like that. Not when he fought Dinosaur Neil. Not when he fought the Proto Clown." Arthur said, adjusting his glasses. "How do I even explain it? He feel's pain, he can be hurt... but he's never injured."  
  
"What Arthur means to say is that when we saw the news report, everyone back home was worried about him and we decided to check in on him." Carmelita added. Apparently the two worked with the Tick for a while and honestly... the inner hero fanboy of Izuku Midoriya wanted to know everything about them, but he just didn't know how he could go and ask!  
  
"I'd wait until he wakes up." Izuku thought about it some more... and then just flat out asked. "... so the two of your are super heroes?"  
  
"Sure am! Carmelita's pop made these suits we wear!" Arthur replied, as the subject of the conversation turned to something much more fun then the fact that the Big Blue Bug of Justice was almost killed on international television.  
  
"... but... why are they bunny suits?" It was the one thing that confused him. Why would they wear bunny suits?  
  
"... I... AM A MOTH!" Arthur near shouted, before calming himself down. "Sorry, sorry. You have no idea how many times I have to correct people. This is not a bunny suit, it is a moth suit! The back pack holds a pair of wings!"  
  
Wings... then that meant...  
  
"You can fly...?" That was the one thing that Izuku couldn't do. Flight seemed like it would be pretty cool, but he wasn't sure One for All could hack it.  
  
"Yes. My father developed these suits for... well, it doesn't matter what they were developed for, just that we use them to fight the super criminals of the City!" Carmelita answered. Arthur rolled his eyes.  
  
"You can not believe how bad El Seed has been since Chairface and the like just up and left the City. You'd think he was upset about something."  
  
"Or the Idea Men have been getting up to trouble, too. We figured it had something to do with the fact that the Tick made his way to Japan."  
  
The two basically finished the same thought. It was... interesting! Moth costumes... the City... he was pondering for a moment, his chin in hand.  
  
"I GOT IT! You're Mothman and Moth Lady! How could I not recognize you before! Oh my gosh!" How did it not make sense to him! He didn't follow American heroes that much, but... it was so obvious.  
  
"Oh, you have no idea how hard it was to actually get my official hero name changed..." Arthur shook his head.  
  
"Yea, because when you first get picked up by Aegis after the fight at the City Dam, they asked you your name and just blurt out Arthur." Carmelita shook her head. Sometimes that man could be a real lunk.  
  
"ARTHUR! CARMELITA! Do my ears deceive me!?" Standing there in the door frame, slightly ducked by the Tick. His wound was still bandaged, but even they could see just how ugly it was.  
  
"Tick! Should you be up right now!?" Izuku was worried for his friend. No hospital, no doctor. The Tick chose to trust in his destiny!  
  
"I'm fine, champ! Just... you know... little woozy and wobbly." He finally made it over to the spare chair and sat heavily. "So! Welcome to the Land of the Rising Sun, my friends! I've been training the boy here to be a dispenser of Judicious Japanese Justice! Arthur! How's Speak doing? He isn't giving you any trouble, is he?"  
  
The moth suited man shook his head. "No, Speak is doing fine, but he's always been well behaved."  
  
"Aye, aye... Speak might not be the prettiest dog, but... he sure is smart!" The Tick said, smiling and nodding. Izuku looked over to Arthur who leaned in.  
  
"Speak is the Tick's pet capybara, but he thinks he's a dog that can talk, hence the name." Arthur whispered. Ah... that would be something that the Tick would believe. "Incidentally, this isn't just a... friendly visit. More of a warning, I guess? Perhaps... I don't want to beg, but Tick... you have to understand, with the way the Japanese are acting..."  
  
The Tick looked over at Arthur, quizzically. What were they talking about? As far the Tick knew, he was as loved in Japan as he was back home in the City!  
  
"Listen! The American Maid told us that he friend at AEGIS? They're thinking about forcibly extraditing you back to America to keep the Hero treaties up." Arthur explained.  
  
"Extradition!? Me? But my mission in Japan isn't over! There's still so much the boy can learn! That I can teach! And with what happened to the Mighty Man... why they need me more then ever!" The Tick was adamant in his refusal to leave the country!  
  
"You might not actually have a choice, Tick! AEGIS is going to ask Caped Wonder to do it! I know, I know. Caped Wonder does what he wants and typically tells AEGIS to hit the bricks, but when they tell him it's you, he's going to do because, let's be honest. Caped Wonder haaaaates you." Arthur said, stating the absolute obvious.  
  
"What? Me? How can Caped Wonder hate me!? Why, he's my biggest fan! And the best sidekick I ever had!" The Tick quickly replied.  
  
"Yeah, it's things like that, Tick. That's why other heroes don't like you that much. You ever wonder why your social circle is so small back home? The amount of heroes that like you, Tick, are few and far between! I know, I know! Once they get to know you, they come around, but Caped Wonder will never be one of them." Arthur tried to explain.  
  
"But... Caped Wonder... Caped Wonder upholds a legacy of heroism going back to the beginning of Quirks! I know the Tick mentioned some things, so I thought they didn't get along very well, but do you think he'd play for AEGIS in forcing the Tick to leave?" Izuku wasn't sure what to think. American heroes could be complicated, and Caped Wonder was one of the strongest heroes on the planet, capable of feats that boggled the mind of other powerful heroes.  
  
... ... ... Caped Wonder's quirk was the most secretive thing on the planet. No one knew what it was, but there was speculation a-plenty on the Internet. Those that thought his quirk was a lot like the Superian's, with a thousand different abilities attached to it. But on the other hand...  
  
"Oh, Wonder is just upset that I know who he is, for the most part! Honestly, you think you know a guy and then he just starts yellin' at you when you talk about at the water cooler." The Tick clicked his tongue. "For shame."  
  
"... you mean you know Caped Wonder's secret...?" This was big, this was very big! Izuku could feel a cold sweat develop. If one of the most powerful heroes in the world thought he knew it too, he could be in trouble.  
  
"Yes, yes. 'Ooooh, look at me! I'm Caped Wonder and I pretend I'm my own successor! OooooOOOOOOooooh'" The Tick pffft again after his little mocking display. That... wasn't what Izuku was expecting.  
  
"Wait... are you... are you saying the Caped Wonder of today... was the same Caped Wonder at the Dawn of Quirks?" This... was pretty big, actually. That was... it was all making sense, actually. The Terror and Caped Wonder...  
  
"... ... ... oh no, oh no, oh no... that... but..." Izuku's mind was moving at a thousand lightyears a minute! "If Caped Wonder is the first superhero... and the Terror is the first supervillain, and they've been fighting for the last two hundred years... they both predate quirks, and could by years... decades."  
  
"Try centuries, kid." Arthur replied. "I remember when I had that first brain fizz. Maybe it's real, maybe it's not. But when it comes to numbers, my quirk don't lie. The Terror and Caped Wonder were fighting in the shadows well before quirks were a thing." Arthur explained.  
  
That meant that either quirks were around far longer then anyone knew... or Caped Wonder... was something else.  
  
"I feel like I'm gonna be sick..." Izuku said, turning several shades of green. The Tick for his part seemed non-plussed.  
  
"Let Caped Wonder come! The Superian, too! I'll just calmly and rationally explain what's going on and they'll tell AEGIS where they can stick it!" The Tick said, nodding his head. "Anyway, it was nicing seeing you Arthur, Camelita! Don't be strangers..." He got up, yawning heading back to the guest room.  
  
"Whelp... we did what we could" Arthur said, standing. "We're gonna be in town for a few days. We'll check back before we leave, but... kid, try to talk some sense into him. If it comes down to the Tick vs Caped Wonder, I don't think this town could survive it."  
  
With that, the two Americans left, leaving a nervous Izuku... unsure of what he was going to do now. Caped Wonder. The Tick... and All Might's press conference were all on his mind.

* * *

"WAKEY WAKEY!" The voice was loud and grating. And... All for One noticed that he could barely hear and he could not see and as he tried to bring up his infravision quirk... he could not.  
  
"Sorry about that... wasn't sure how good your hearing was, but fantastic! You'll notice that you can't access the numerous quirks you have locked up in you. Lemme explain." The voice was old sounding, but had a sinister edge. "You see, heh, I have you hopped up on enough quirk suppressants to keep you docile for yeaaaars! Which suits me just fine. Now then, let's get this show on the road!"  
  
... ... ... All for One was about to respond, when pain unlike anything else racked his body and a wordless scream tore out of his throat! He could... he could feel one of his quirks! It was slowly draining out of his body and just when he thought it was going to be gone forever, the pull stopped and it was his again, but... it was not whole, it was... it was injured and needed to heal!  
  
"EU-FUCKING-REKA! IT WORKS!" The celebratory nature of his captor's voice was all he needed to know what had happened, or to hazard a guess. "Oh, they say don't put all your eggs in one basket, but I think I might just end up breaking all of yours for this omelette I'm making!" There was a cruel laughter, not unlike his own... slowly fading out.  
  
He was alone... save for his thoughts. Focused on one singular goal. Escape, then revenge.


	68. Issue 61

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue 61  
  
The new headquarters for the League of Villains was rather cramped. The Horror in Kamino as it was being called decimated their original set up and brought there numbers down. As it was, Chairface Chippendale was canny enough to set up a safe house for some of the main members to lay low.  
  
Which was why he was currently sitting at a table with Breadmaster, Kurogiri, and Tomura Shigaraki. Mister Compress was in the room, idly tapping his fingers. Himiko Toga was convincing the Brainchild to paint her toenails, and the Scarlet Tick loomed over the room in a single corner.  
  
"I think it's time we perform a bit of a postmortem on what happened the other night. I've come... to a few interesting conclusions." Chairface began speaking. The facts were rather simple. They lost, rather badly. Not just at the bar in Kamino, but at the Triggermen Warehouse in Hoshikara. Unlike other places that were raided, that was where they printed the damn things. And only Henderson, the Forehead, and the Deadly Nose managed to escape the heroes, at that! "It would appear that the real leader of the League of Villains had some... interesting ideas on just what he wanted. Namely, the death of All Might. This... vendetta has cost us quite a bit."  
  
Tomura Shigaraki was glaring hate at both Chairface and Kurogiri. "We left it. It was the only thing I had left... and you... I don't think I'll ever forgive you Kurogiri" His head was hung low and his tone was dark.  
  
"Would you have rather gotten captured by the heroes, Shigaraki? I only did what I must, and I was not about to leave you there." Was the Black Mist's reply. Tomura grumbled back. He did not agree with the sentiment.  
  
"These are not the only conclusions I have come to, as well." Chairface was ignoring the two subtle argument. "It occurs to me, Shigaraki, that your quirk is very powerful, yet your control over it is non-existent. If I was to hazard a guess... I think someone trained you to be nothing more then an attack dog. Something to be sicced upon enemies and let them decay under your touch."  
  
"... what do you know, Chairface?" Tomura groused. All for One was gone, the last bit of his father was gone, and he was purposeless.  
  
"What do I know? I know that whoever trained you did it by a half measure, on purpose. Who ever was the leader of the League of Villains... had no intention of you ever being his successor. Quite the conundrum, no? But here's what you do have." The American gangster pressed his hands onto the table and it looked like he was starting at the younger villain. "Freedom. The freedom to choose. Let me give you a run down."  
  
He motioned to both himself and Mister Compress. "Myself and Compress have much in common. Specifically, out goals. We both wish to accumulate wealth, and turn to crime to do so. That is what makes us Criminals." He motioned to Kurogiri and the Breadmaster. "Kurogiri and Breadmaster, on the other hand... are villains. The difference is that instead of a goal, both of them have an ideal. For Kurogiri, it was serving this All for One, your master... Sensei to the best of his abilities for whatever purpose. Breadmaster too has an ideal, he holds the culinary world to a strict standard of quality and those that fall beneath it deserve disdain, ire, and death."  
  
Tomura thought about the criminals words. It did make sense, in a way. Compress was in it for the money, so was Chairface. Kurogiri had served Sensei for as long as he knew and the Breadmaster while... not entirely there, did have a purpose to his deeds. "... what are you getting at, Chairface?"  
  
"What I'm getting at is that you currently stand at a precipice. Are you going to be a criminal... or are you going to be a villain? Do you have a goal you wish to achieve or do you have an ideal that you cherish? Because let me be perfectly clear: The only way you'll end up remaining the leader of the League of Villains is by choosing and following through." He leaned back in his chair.  
  
"Now then... I have but one more question... who told you about me and my run in's with the Tick? Someone had to put you onto my trail, so I would like to know, especially since we're closer then ever."  
  
"I, too, would like to know." Breadmaster said, looking over to Tomura curiously. The young man mumbled a reply. "I'm sorry, I couldn't quite hear that...?"  
  
There was more mumbling.  
  
"Just say it already, Shigaraki!" Chairface's patience was running thin and the Tomura said it.  
  
"The Terror. Sensei... a contact of a contact of a contact... gave us the location of where the Terror was... retired too. We... went there and he had a dossier compiled on the four of you. It... seemed like a good idea at the time." He watched at the two American's recoiled.  
  
"The Terror!?" Chairface shuddered before crossing himself. "... you're young. So I would understand you not knowing anything of what you did, but..." He turned to Kurogiri. "You should know better, my friend! The Terror? Just saying his name makes my teeth itch."  
  
"Why are you so worried about it, Chairface? The Terror is a super villain, nothing more. He's no more worse then me or you. Pffft, seeing him there in that wheelchair hooked up to life support? Please, I doubt he could hurt a fly in his condition." Tomura dismissed the American's feelings on the matter quite easily.  
  
"Let me tell you a brief story. An anectdote from my mispent youth. 30 some odd years ago, I was a young man in my twenties. I had a chip on my shoulder. I was mad at world. It's why I joined the Triggermen in the first place fresh out of Yale. I learned a lot of things in those first few years, but then one day, the capos had a meeting. Would you like to know what it was about?" There was a brief pause as Chairface allowed three other criminals at the table mull on it. "The Triggermen were deciding who they would side with in that final battle between Caped Wonder and the Terror. The term being bandied about was Apocalyptic. After several hours of deliberation, it was voted that they would side with Caped Wonder."  
  
A gang of American criminals deciding to side with the Hero of Heroes rather then the True Symbol of Evil? To Tomura, it made no sense. "... why? Why would criminals side with the heroes instead of with the villain...?"  
  
"Because we're criminals! If you turn to crime to accumulate wealth, it requires that there at least be a society to spend it in. The Terror, for all his boisterousness, for all his vile, violent, vicious acts of villainy... had no plan. No rebuilding society into a new world order with himself at the head. Just evil for the sake of evil. Because he can. Because who would stop him. It was the pragmatists choice!"  
  
It made sense, in a way. What purpose was crime if there was no society to rebel against? But Chairface made a good point, at the start. Tomura Shigaraki lacked an ideal he could follow, but he also lacked a goal.  
  
"The first thing, I think, is that I need to get better control of my quirk." He finally said after a few tense, quiet moments. "The second thing is that Sensei ruled Japan from the shadows for a whole generation. Let's see if I can't do any better?"  
  
"Hn. It's a start." Chairface said, crossing his arms over his chest. "But it'll do."  
  
Kurogi nodded his approval. "All for One is dead. Long live All for One."  
  
"Yeah... yeah..." Tomura looked at his hands. "All Might is incapable of being the Number 1 Hero any more... that falls fully onto Endeavor's shoulders. Let us see if his ideals are stronger then mine!" He could feel it seething through himself. Tomura... no, no... he wasn't Tomura Shigaraki any longer... he was All for One now, a name that Japan... the world would come to fear! And when the Terror showed his ugly face, he'd be ready for him!

* * *

"Ladies and Gentleman..." The blonde man in the too big suit was emaciated. "My name is Toshinori Yagi. Some of you might know me as All Might. Five years ago I was in a fight unlike any other against a villain unlike any other. A few days ago... I fought that monster again in what is being called... the Horror in Kamino."  
  
He winced from the flashes of the cameras. He didn't like having these speeches or press conferences, but... this was a must. The people needed to know!  
  
"This time... I did what I should have five years ago... and ended that villain once and for all. The good people of this nation can sleep well knowing that we'll never be bothered again by that monster. However... in doing so... I had to burn out my quirk to do so. You see... ever since I suffered that wound, I was always on borrowed time, able to be the hero Japan needed for hours at a time, bleeding minutes each time I did." He gave a sigh, though it was the easiest breath he took in what seemed like forever.  
  
"So it is with a heavy heart that I must say that I have endured the unendurable long enough, and it has cost me greatly. For that, I apologize, and effective immediately... I'm retiring from Professional Heroics. It is time to let a new generation prosper. For a new Symbol of Peace to emerge." He paused for a moment, a tear running down his cheek. "Thank you. For believing in me as long as you did."  
  
He did not accept any questions.

* * *

 

Everything he wanted was being handed to him, finally. Enji Todoroki... Endeavor... was now the Number 1 Hero of All Japan. And it tasted like bitter ashes in his mouth. It felt like the gods themselves were mocking him, finally giving him what he wanted only to twist into something that he did not.  
  
As if he had wished upon a Monkey's Paw to surpass All Might and this is how it was granted to him! He raged. He seethed.  
  
He was lost and he had no idea where to go from here. He would be the first to admit that he made mistakes in his life and that he was anything but a decent man, but did anyone take decency into account when it came to heroics? No, no one did! What mattered was who he helped and what crimes he solved but...  
  
Everything felt empty. For the first time in his life, Enji Todoroki... the Flame Hero Endeavor had perspective on what he did.  
  
He found the weight of his sins to be crushing.  
  
The slight creak of the door leading into the dojo grabbed his attention. It was the boy, Shoto. His son. His magnum opus.  
  
"Congratulations, Father." The boy said, staring at him with his mismatched eyes from the door.  
  
"Don't test me, boy, I'm not in the mood."  
  
"Why not? You just got what you wanted, didn't you? You finally surpassed All Might. Does it make everything worth it?" The mocking tone... the willful disobedience...  
  
"Don't think that I don't know what you're doing, Shoto. I'm in no mood for jesting." He stood up to his full height, towering over his youngest child.  
  
"Afraid that the world will finally see you for the monster you are?" The words cut deep. Everything he did for the boy, he did for his future! How could he not see it? It did nothing but trigger a burning, seething rage in his heart. "Leave, before I do something you'll regret!"  
  
He couldn't look at his wayward son. The words of the Superian from so many weeks ago were echoing in his head.  
  
"Of course. I'll leave you to your thoughts... Symbol of Peace." The door shut behind Shoto and Endeavor grabbed a training dummy and turned it into a pile of glowing ash with a roar!

* * *

The alarms were blaring, louder then anything that Spinner had ever heard as he passed the bundle over to the tall man.  
  
"It took the two of you long enough." Stain said, his weapons returned to him. His two prodigal disciples were before him, one more loyal then the other.  
  
"It's not out fault, Sensei! We would have been here sooner, but we kept getting caught by Dabi's girlfriend!" Spinner tried to explain.  
  
"SHE IS NOT MY GIRLFRIEND!" The burned flame user shouted, as he was busy burning another hole to make their escape. "Ryuko is just... incorrigible."  
  
Student and master looked at each other, the lizard man shrugging.  
  
"Riiiiight. Dabi. Spinner. World's gone to hell since I've been in prison. Without All Might, Number 1 falls to Endeavor. I will not let him sully All Might's good name any longer." He put his mask back on, shivering as he did so. It felt good! "You said you wished to kill Endeavor, Dabi? No time like the present!"  
  
He brushed past the two, exiting the still burning, still glowing hole, never looking back. Spinner gulped. The man could be intense, but that's why he followed him in the first place. He turned to Dabi.  
  
"Are... are we really going to go through with it, Dabi?" He asked the burned man, who narrowed his eyes.  
  
"It's for the best, really. Better for the country if Endeavor died a hero then be revealed for the monster he really is." He sighed. "I... can accept that, as long as he's dead in the end."  
  
The burned man followed after Stain, Spinner bringing up the rear.


	69. Issue 62

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue 62  
  
"And finally, with the expansion of Alliance Heights, UA will be making the move to being an on campus boarding school until such a time as when the threat of the League of Villains can be finally dealt with." The principal of UA tapped his papers on the desk, looking at his gathered teachers. "Which leads us to our final problem. Most of you were at the so-called Horror in Kamino, but the actual events reported... were a lie."  
  
It felt like all the oxygen was sucked out of the room. All Might claimed not long after the fight with All for One that he had completely annihilated the Symbol of Evil, once and for all. To find out that it was a lie perpetrated by the former Number 1 Hero and the Number 1 Hero Academy...  
  
"So what did actually happen?" Midnight had asked. There were a lot of heroes there, that night, all they knew was that All Might had burned out his quirk defeating that monster, but with that flash of light knocking everyone insensate... "... I'm going to guess that we didn't capture him."  
  
It would be too easy if they had, but she didn't think that had happened at all.  
  
"Yes, well... that's where the issue comes in. All for One was, indeed, captured. But not by us. No... All for One was captured..." The furry school administrator thought for a moment. "I suppose the best way to say it is to just say it. All for One was captured by the Terror."  
  
If he had thought that the oxygen was sucked out of the room before, this would have been that of a black hole opening right in the middle of his office.  
  
"And I know what you're thinking. That this is impossible, that it can't be true, well Mister Yagi said that he scarcely believes it himself, but it is the truth of the matter." The principal paused for a brief moment. "I don't think I have to explain why. This could lead to mass panic and hysteria! What's worse! the Japanese government just signed a new Hero Treaty and will once again be using the AEGIS guide for provisional licensing."  
  
"But isn't that a good thing?" Present Mic finally got around to saying. "If the government is gonna play ball with AEGIS, that means if the Terror did return, we'd have Caped Wonder and the Superian to clean him up, right...?"  
  
"Perhaps, Mister Yamada, but one has to look at the way certain things are perceived. Perhaps we do have the Superian or Caped Wonder show up and save the day as they are wont to do. What then? What does that do to the Top Ten system we make use of? People will not trust Endeavor to be the hero they need. Yes, it's sad, I know, but it all comes down to optics."  
  
It was a sad state, in a way, having to lie to the whole of society about the true nature of what happened in Kamino Ward, but the truth of the matter was if people knew that Terror had returned, pure anarchy would be the result! And no one wanted that!  
  
With that, the teachers were dismissed. He would have to talk with Eraserhead at some point, telling him in no certain terms what was going to happen. The man didn't seem to have the ability to see the shades of gray when it came young heroes. Still, Mister Iida had proved himself to be more then just his frailties and weaknesses, and would have a place back in the Hero Course.  
  
He poured himself another cup of tea, humming to himself happily.  
  
"This really is a very comfortable chair!" He said out loud. Something recovered from the League of Villain headquarters, a swayback chair that was... well, it was in fact very comfortable, but no matter. He had to send letters out to parents telling them to expect the teachers to visit to explain the change in UA's housing policy. He sighed, this was going to be a lot of work.  
  
That was when the door to office opened with a loud bang, causing Nedzu to look up and actually be startled for a singular moment.  
  
Of all the people that walked into his office, he wasn't expecting Caped Wonder!

* * *

"You know, Mei... when you said you wanted to hang out... I really wasn't expecting this of all things." Izuku said. Currently, they were at Dagobah beach. It was a nice, crisp summer morning, with the sea breeze doing much to counter the Summer Heat. Mei Hatsume had convinced him to go out to the beach to enjoy themselves for once, especially after everything that had happened.  
  
However... what he had in mind and what was happening wasn't what he was expecting. Sure, he expected to get some exercise done... that seven month plan All Might had him do probably instituted a life long love for physical exertion, but this.. this was too much!  
  
True, they were both on the beach, and true they were both wearing a swimsuit, she was wearing a pink one piece, he was wearing a pair of green trunks, but the fact was... he was doing push ups... Mei sitting right on his back, one leg crossed over the other as she read a book.  
  
"What? How can you be a hero of the beach if you can't do 200 push ups with your girlfriend sitting on your back?" She replied back, idly, reading... well, he wasn't sure, but he heard the pages turn every so often.  
  
"Yeah, but you said you wanted to hang out... I thought that meant... you know... actual hanging out. Like at the arcade or we'd be swimming." Izuku was counting in his head. Only a few more left. Up. Down. Up. Down. The burn in his arms and chest felt good, if he was going to be honest, and he could barely feel Mei's weight slowing him down.  
  
"Oh, we'll be swimming. It's been a while since we got new measurements. Need to make sure you're in tip top shape." She felt it unnecessary to mention that it was a good way to keep Izuku a shredded slice of beefcake, but that would go without saying. Finally, though, the push ups were done and with some reluctance, Mei got off of Izuku's back.  
  
"When you say swimming... you want me to do laps, don't you?" Izuku laid down in the sand, just trying to enjoy the heat radiating onto his body.  
  
"Pretty much everything. Like I said, we're doing measurements! I got to make sure that both of your costumes are well within the margin of error. Sure, that whole super strength quirk of yours is a bit of a hurdle to work with, but I have the utmost confidence in my abilities." Mei was laying down next to him. This was nice, even if it was more business then pleasure.  
  
"Oh well... it's still special because I get to spend the day with you." He tried not to go for sappy, but he was a hopeless romantic at heart. There was nothing that could ruin a day at the beach with his girlfriend. Even if she was putting him through the paces.  
  
And then he heard it.  
  
"FUCKING MOVE YOUR ASS RACCOON EYES!" Katsuki Bakugo would be the one to ruin his day, he cracked an eye open and sat up, only to see Katsuki and Eijiro and Mina... they two were dressed for the beach, running up and down the length of Dagobah, Katsuki acting like some kind of slave driver for the pink skinned alien space princess... and not much better for the faux redhead. "If I have to start blasting you, I FUCKING WILL!"  
  
"... you think we should report him for domestic abuse...?" Mei asked, watching the near comical display of Katsuki chasing around his two friends, fingers sparking as his temper flared!  
  
"What... domestic abuse? Why would we do that?" It was a quizzical look on his face. "Are you talking about that... you know... weird thing they have going?"  
  
"... weird thing? Is that what they call tripoly's now? Weird things?" Mei teased the moss headed young man, who blushed hotly.  
  
"Mei..." Izuku near whined. "I'm still waiting to wake up and find out we're still friends... this whole thing has been a whirlwind."  
  
He could be such a precious cinnamon roll when he got like that. Still, he sighed.  
  
"I'm gonna go ask them what's up. He's running them for some reason, and it can't be just for next semester." With that, he stood up, brushed the sand off his body, and went over to where Katsuki was yelling at Mina and Eijiro... the pink skinned girl was on the ground, groaning.... the redhead was bent over, hands resting on his knees. The red eyed ash blonde glared daggers at Izuku as he arrived.  
  
"What do you want, Midoriya? Can't you see I'm busy?" Katsuki growled out, arms crossed over his bare chest as he stood impatiently. Was he capable of actually standing still?  
  
"Busy doing what, Katsuki? I thought you liked Kirishima and Ashido..." Izuku said, looking over two thirds of the Bakusquad looking well worse for wear. Katsuki growled at him, his eye twitching.  
  
"That has nothing to do with anything, Midoriya! I'm doing this because I like them!" There was a pause. The single space of a heartbeat passed before Katsuki yelled again. "STOP CONFUSING ME YOU FFFFFFFUCK!" He started to kick at the sand, cursing the air blue.  
  
"You really shouldn't have set him off like that, Midoriya." Mina finally said, sitting up. "It's... gosh, where do I even start...?"  
  
"... he already knows about the other thing, so just tell him." Eijiro said, finally standing up straight. "So after the whole... Kamino thing..." Izuku held up a hand.  
  
"I really don't need to know about what you three got up to after that debacle. Hell, everyone already things all three of you are dating each other as it is." Izuku really didn't need to hear about Katsuki's romantic life at all.  
  
"Right! So... turns out my uncle called my bluff and we kinda ran into him and Katsuki did his gruff and explosive thing and now we're gonna fight him to keep me here." Mina explained everything.  
  
"Ah... so... you're training for that, huh?" The two nodded.  
  
"We need to be in tip top shape, and Katsuki can be really, really inspiring and motivating." Eijiro explained. Izuku looked at Eijiro, and then Mina who was nodding, then motioned to Katsuki who was angrily marching around, palms sparking, as he still continued to curse up a storm.  
  
Eijiro frowned, face falling a bit. "I know, I know." He waved Izuku off, right or not.  
  
"You gonna need help with Ashido's uncle?" Izuku changed the subject, and fast.  
  
"Nah, we should be good, right Mina?" The redhead asked and the pink skin girl nodded.  
  
"We're good! But thanks for asking."  
  
Well, if they didn't need his help, then they didn't need his help. He excused himself and went back over to Mei... she probably figured out some other tests that he had to do and he was eager to get them done!

* * *

Kai Chisaki wasn't sure what to think when he saw... his business partner place the vial on his desk. "... what is this?" It was a simple question, but the vial was filled with a silvery fluid that had a blue glow.  
  
"What? You can't tell what it's supposed to be, Mister Overhaul?" The man before him was his... partner in crime as it was... the devil himself, in all honesty: The Terror. He still woke up in a cold sweat, coming to terms with what he's done and who he's allied himself with.  
  
"This is the one thing that every quirk expert has been looking for. The mother lode. The holy grail. An artificial quirk! It's only temporary, but! Imagine it, Overhaul! If we can perfect this and perfect your quirk erasing bullets, you know what we could have?" It was something to think about. They could charge people money to erase weak or problematic quirks and replace them with different, better quirks! "We could erase a hero's quirk and give him something he has no idea how to use! Can you imagine that absolute ANARCHY!?"  
  
Or they could do the Saturday Morning Cartoon Villain thing. Complete with cackling. This was who he threw his lot in. It was... everything he ever feared.  
  
"But enough about that! So... I'mma need your kid to rewind one of mine." ... what was he talking about now? The only reason why Eri managed to successfully rewind the other man was his advanced age! Anyone else would have been unborn.  
  
"... why...?" Kai wasn't sure if he really wanted to know, but... in this case, knowing was probably better then not knowing.  
  
"Because we need a teenager to act as a mole at that hero academy, right? The only people I trust are my kids! And I'm sure they won't mind too much be 16 again." He pause for a moment. "Actually, might be better off doing both. We can send one to the Number 1 and the other to the Number 2."  
  
A mole, at both UA and Shiketsu?  
  
... ... ... the only question was why did the Terror think that was necessary.  
  
On the other hand, perhaps this was one of those times it was better not knowing then knowing.


	70. Issue 63

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue 63  
  
It was that brief moment of the day, right as the sun was setting, as the twilight crept over the horizon and wasn't quite yet night, but it wasn't day time any more. It was here and now... that heroes would work their best... where vigilantes would ply their trade of illicit heroics.  
  
It was now, that the Tick, no longer bleeding and bandaged, took back onto the streets, young ward in tow!  
  
"I really don't think this is a good idea, Tick. You just... that was the hardest fight you ever had. I know it's been a few days, but... think rationally for once! You're still hurt and people are gunning for you! They're blaming you for what happened to All Might." Izuku Midoriya, the Aphid, was trying to make his friend and mentor see some kind of reason. Fact was, the Tick had _bled_ and that was something that Izuku wasn't sure was possible.  
  
"Non-sense, my boy! The town... the nation has to know that I, the MIGHTY TICK, am still capable of protecting those I cherish!" They were racing across the rooftops, practically side by side. The amount of growth that Izuku had over the months was... insane, almost. He hadn't used the assistance built into his boots in a very long time, and even then only to arrest a fall.  
  
"I..." Izuku started. He knew what the Tick meant. That just because he was disliked was no reason to just give up being a hero! "You're still injured, though!" All for One should have killed the Tick... but the Wild Blue Yonder proved time and time again that he was nigh invulnerable and wouldn't go down. But All for One injured the Tick far worse then re-entry had!  
  
It was beyond the impossible, beyond what Izuku knew to be true! But... here the Tick was, running the roofs, just like he always did! Not even slowed down by the massive injuries he took during that fight with All for One! It was awe inspiring!  
  
And then a blur shot in front of them, causing them both to stop!  
  
... ... ... Izuku had to suppress a squeal! The Superhero fanboy that was cultivated over years of losing himself into comics and message boards on his long road to recovery was going absolutely crazy!  
  
Caped! Wonder!  
  
"Well... here we are again, Tick! The two of us meeting again!" It was everything that Izuku had thought meeting the Hero of Heroes would be like! The stature of a god of old! The strength belied by bulging muscles! The cape blowing in the wind! Even the way his extravagant spit curl seemed to sway in the same breeze.  
  
"Wonder! Fancy seeing you here...!" The Tick was cut off as a blow from the Hero of Heroes sent him flying straight up!  
  
"I can't even begin to say how long I've wanted to do that." Caped Wonder said, turning to Izuku. "Go back home, Kid. The adults are talking!" He held out an arm and caught the Tick before he came crashing down.  
  
"So I take it we still have some hard feelings, huh?" The Tick said, giving one of his patented tooth filled grins!  
  
"Hard... hard feelings!?" Caped Wonder appeared as if struck! "Even in your pudding like brain you have to know what you did! You're an embarrassment to heroes everywhere, Tick! And worse! You made me a laughingstock in my own secret identity!"  
  
"But if you hadn't left your hat, Wonder, then I wouldn't have needed to track you down to return it!"  
  
"Oh, no you don't! You do not get to make this sound innocent!" Caped Wonder's temper flared and he through the Tick away from him, speeding off after the Big Blue Bug of Justice!  
  
Izuku just stood there. Sure, the Tick's friend Arthur said that Caped Wonder would be coming to chat with the Tick, but the moth man wasn't exaggerating when he said that Caped Wonder and the Tick had some bad blood between the two of them! He took off after the heroic duo dueling downtown!  
  
In a word? This was bad. This was really bad! The last thing anyone needed was a brawl between the Tick and Caped Wonder after the fight down in Kamino Ward! By the time he got there, the Tick was already on his feet, Caped Wonder hovering a few feet in the air. Already sirens were sounding and Izuku could see a news van!  
  
... the Tick always liked better optics, but this was on a whole new level!  
  
"Alright... maybe we got off on the wrong foot..." The Tick said, he was still favoring his right side! It was obvious to anyone that was the case. "I... am the Tick!"  
  
Caped Wonder's reply was to punch the Tick square on the chin, sending the blue clad hero back, his feet digging in furrows up to his knees!  
  
"Right... not much of a talker! That's okay! Besides... I'm nigh invulnerable!" He took a deep breath, puffing out his chest. "And I've decided that I must be a good role model for all the children of this town... this nation... nay, this world! By refusing to fight you, Caped Wonder!"  
  
"Is... this you coming along quietly, Tick?" The caped hero asked, tilting his head askance.  
  
"Absolutely not! This country needs me more now then ever! DO YOUR WORST, CAPED WONDER!" The Tick was defiant to the end! Against impossible odds! And Izuku... he just felt himself shock still. He wanted to intervene, he had too! But he couldn't will himself to take even a single step!  
  
... ... ... he had noticed in the growing crowd other pro heroes, and yet... no one was making a move to support the Tick or Caped Wonder.  
  
Speaking of the Hero of Heroes... roiling off the man was a charisma not unlike that of All Might. At once Izuku knew that this was going to be a disaster and that it was going to be alright! Was... was this really the gulf between the likes of Caped Wonder and regular heroes?  
  
The air was tense, thick enough that it could be cut and served as dessert! The yammering of the crowd zeroed out, as Izuku focused on two foreign heroes! Ignoring the flashes from the cameras, ignoring the the excited news casters, live on the ground.  
  
And then a single word broke the tension, broke the silence, broke everything.  
  
"NIIIIIIIICK!" A woman ran out of the crowd. She was a foreigner, just like the two heroes and ran over to the Tick. She was crying, large wet sobs as she hugged the man in blue.  
  
"Cl... cloris?" The Tick looked confused, then looked to Caped Wonder. Then frowned. It looked so out of place on the Wild Blue Yonder. "That's a real jerk move, Wonder! Getting my Ex-Wife involved!"  
  
And then... silence once more. A gasp!  
  
Izuku couldn't believe it. The Tick was married...? How... but that didn't...  
  
He wasn't the only one that couldn't believe it, either! But many more thought it was a low blow of the Hero of Heroes! To bring the Tick's Ex-Wife when he was supposed to bring him in? That really was low!  
  
"... what? I didn't..." Caped Wonder looked around, the crowd jeering and booing, even as the Tick tried to comfort the crying woman. Izuku finally found his courage return, and he took a step forward.  
  
"Caped Wonder!" He shouted. "I think you should leave!" Others supported him, telling him to do the same! That Caped Wonder could go home! The Hero of Heroes looked around, tried to explain but as he stuttered and backed away... he lost the crowd and flew away.  
  
The Tick... had the woman held next to him. "Take the rest of the Night off, Aphid... I'm not sure when I'll be back... C'mon, Cloris... let's get some coffee and figure this out..." The woman sniffed and nodded, leaving Izuku... alone with the crowd.  
  
The last thing Izuku wanted to do was give an interview about what was going on and as quick as he pleased, he took off on his own, leaping towards the rooftops and racing back home.  
  
This night... was a bust.  
  
The next day came and with it was a letter from UA. It simply stated that due to the attack on the School's Summer Camp, that starting with Fall Semester in August in a few weeks, UA would be switching to a Boarding School until the threat of the League of Villains was dealt with. UA took the safety of their students rather seriously, and that the Principal would be more then welcome to write a letter of recommendation to any other academy, should a student wish to transfer.  
  
Izuku was sitting in the kitchen, with his mother. They had both read the letter, and reread it.  
  
"I..."  
  
"Mom..."  
  
They both started to speak at the same time, and both dissolved into a stuttering mess before his mother told him to go first. Izuku took a deep breath.  
  
"Mom, if you ask me too, I'll... I'll ask for the Transfer. I don't... I don't want to leave you alone." They only had each other. Sure, they both had the Tick, but the Tick didn't come home last night and that was a bad sign, but with the way everything was the night before... Izuku thought it would be better to give the Tick time to solve the problem on his own, especially since he didn't know what the hell the problem was to begin with.  
  
"Izuku..." Inko Midoriya looked at her son. The last connection she had to her husband, the light of her life. "I don't want you to give up your dreams for my sake." She let a sigh and she felt... old. Haggard.  
  
"It's your dream to be a hero, and you have the ability to be a hero, and with Mister Yagi retiring, it's now more important then ever that you become the best hero you can be!" She grabbed her son by the shoulders. "Look at me, Izuku! Look at me and promise me this! Don't stay up too late, make sure you eat healthy meals, and always pick up when I call you! Can you do this for me, Izuku?"  
  
The moss headed young man could feel the tears in his eyes. It was one thing to have the Tick believe in him. It was one thing to have All Might believe in him... but finally! His mother believed in him too! He was crying, as he nodded.  
  
"Yes, yes, yes! I'll even try to come home once a week and we'll have dinner and I'll make sure I'll call every day and...!" They were both crying, as they embraced, as only mother and son could.


	71. Issue 64

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue 64  
  
Being Shouta Aizawa was nothing short of suffering. That was his place in the universe, it seemed. He had the unenviable position of trying to convince the other parents of the home room class that he taught, to convince them to let their kids go into the dorms instead of transferring to a different academy.  
  
He had only gone to a few of the students and already he was regretting everything. He was learning things about his students that he never thought he would ever learn. Deeply, personal things that made too much sense about their personalities.  
  
Minoru Mineta's... mother was certainly something else and seemed to be a bit too friendly to Shouta then the underground pro hero really was comfortable with. Also his father was completely henpecked busy body that seemed to let his wife walk all over him. This explained the worst of Minoru's behavior right from the onset.  
  
Ochako Uraraka's parents weren't aware of a lot of things, as the Zero Gravity girl had got a student's apartment close to UA already, so they were woefully under informed on their daughter's illicit vigilante activities, as well as how close she was with the American transfer student. It wasn't his place to tell Ochako's parents about either of those things, so he didn't. Though he did tell her that she was going to have too, sooner or later.  
  
The end of the day was a double whammy of Mina Ashido and Eijiro Kirishima.  
  
They both lived in the Chiba Ward, which was convenient, and they were childhood friends.  
  
Eijiro was easy enough, and it was easy to see where the faux redhead got the majority of his psychological profile. His father was a salary man that provided for the family and came off as being rather timid, his mother was a personal trainer and probably where the young man managed to hone and carve his body in the peak physical fitness that it was.  
  
Where he got his obsession with being manly... he wasn't sure where that was from, but his parents seemed nice enough and allowed him to continue to attend the school.  
  
Mina Ashido on the other hand... was a whole different kettle of fish. First, the neighbors mentioned that they were sure there wasn't a third floor to the apartment, but then again, no one really gave it much thought in the first place. As far as anyone knew, there was no mother and neither the daughter or the father talked about it. The father was an inventor at a support company and was a spitting image of his daughter. Horns. Eyes. Skin. Even their quirk was the same.  
  
That wasn't... uncommon, but Mina was listed as being a 5th generation quirk individual not unlike the majority of her classmates. It left the teacher slash hero puzzled, but he put in on the back burner for now. Mina was excited about being in the dorms, because it meant that she could be closer to Eijiro and Katsuki, which made here very very very happy.  
  
As he finished up with the Ashido household, he said a silent prayer to any god that would grant it... Buddha, Zeus, Amaterasu, he'd take Santa Claus at this point. That he wasn't going to be doing the health class this semester.

* * *

He looked over the city from the penthouse he was currently operating out of. It was the dawn of a new day. Ever since that so called Horror of Kamino, a revolt against the modern world was slowly but surely brewing. It was enough to make the Terror as giddy as a school boy!  
  
His partner in this endeavor was on the same balcony. "Look at it, Overhaul... look at all of this. A dawn of a new day! Look at those ants. A thousand different super powers with a thousand different uses and maybe one among them does anything about it!" The Terror slapped his hands together, rubbing them with glee.  
  
"I'm not sure I understand." Kai Chisaki didn't understand anything about the Terror. There was no plan at all. Just... chaos. Anarchy. Evil for the sake of evil. It was enough to make him feel a shiver run up and down his spine. To realize how he made people feel on the daily. It was... a most enlightening experience.  
  
"What's there to understand? Did you not see last night? The Hero of Heroes was here, in this nation, and he got REBUKED! We're on the very cusp of something new." The Terror grinned, his gold teeth glinting in the morning light. "The last virtue of a dying society is apathy, and there's so much apathy in this society that it's on the ledge and just needs a push."  
  
"A push you want to give it?" Kai knew exactly what the Terror was going for. A collapse of everything. A cascade failure.  
  
"Oh, yes. It would be just like the good ol' days, when super powers first arrived. Where the weak feared the strong. Where you took what you want, gave nothing back. This is the beginning of something glorious! With what we have cooking, with what those League of Villain idiots are getting up too, and with the heroes losing more and more credibility...?" He cackled like he was the villain of a Saturday morning cartoon. "You and me, Kai... we're the chefs in the kitchen of chaos, making the world's largest omelette!"  
  
"So you're plan is to break every egg to make it...?" The Terror spoke almost entirely in metaphor.  
  
"Absolutely. Every egg in the world if need be! A revolt against modernity! You and me... my artificial quirks, your quirk erasing bullets... we are a lethal dose of poison for this false, dying society! It's for the good of the species, really. Good times make weak men, after all."  
  
Of all the things that Kai expected to hear from the Terror... the whole idea that he was being... almost altruistic about this was the absolute last.  
  
And he didn't buy it for a hot second.

* * *

Summer break was over. Izuku... through the help of his friends and class mates was moved into the dorm rooms with the rest of his class. Alliance Heights... a huge expansion was performed on the rather small on campus dorms for special cases, but with UA converting into a boarding school for the near future... everything felt... not right, but it felt like the start of a new beginning.  
  
Classes were starting in a few days, and it was a chance to mingle with some of the other students that elected to continue to attend UA. Just about each class got it's own tower to house the students. And it was just Izuku's luck that the tower hosuing 1-A was right across the quad from the tower housing class 1-H.  
  
It was like the universe was finally looking out for him for once instead of trying to stomp on him into oblivion! He honestly didn't know how to think about this. So many things were changing. Hitoshi was in the hero course. Then again, Tenya was back as well!  
  
It was going to be a crazy, the upcoming term. Especially with provisional hero licensing coming up. Izuku had heard a rumor saying that the second term was when they managed to go get licensed as heroes to work for real professionals! His inner fanboy hadn't stopped squeeing! That was a few weeks away. There was probably going to be a lot of prep work leading up to that.  
  
Still, it was only a handful of days before the Fall Term started, and he just wanted to get used to the whole... loving on the school campus. Thank goodness he lived close enough to home that he could get a home cooked meal every night if he so wished, but... this whole dorm situation and curfew was going to put quite the dent into his Aphid time.  
  
"Pffft... as if I'll let a silly thing like a curfew stop me..." He said to no one as he finished decorating his room. It was his and his alone and... okay, it wasn't too crazy. Just a few choice bits of posters and other memorabilia and some choice bits from his very important toy collection.  
  
All in all, it looked just like his room from home!  
  
He even had a special frame for a letter he received over the summer from Kota Izumi. The kid was apologizing for being a brat to him and for punching him when they first met. That he did something that not any one had done before. Given him hopen, and that was the one thing he needed the most. He was going to focus on the good times he had with his parents, and try to keep their memory alive and maybe... maybe he could live up to their own ideal of heroism! Izuku wished him all the luck!  
  
Though, he forgo'd moving some of his limited edition All Might posters and instead opted to get more hero posters then just All Might to adorn the walls and ceiling of his dorm room. Sure, All Might was his favorite hero, but he liked other heroes too.  
  
Though... Caped Wonder was quickly falling to the bottom of that list. The fact that the Tick had an ex-wife was something he couldn't completely fathom. But the fact that Caped Wonder, the Hero of Heroes... a hero as far beyond All Might as All Might was beyond Izuku... would use such a tactic! Though, there was a part of him that was hoping, thinking, that perhaps it was all just a mistake.  
  
After all, Caped Wonder's behavior was that of a man that had no idea what was happening. For all Izuku knew, the Tick's Ex-Wife could have been a plot by a villain to undermine Caped Wonder's own status as the greatest hero in the world.  
  
Which brought up something that had been gnawing at his mind, at his conscience. He still hadn't told the principal about the source of Trigger, hand over the evidence that he and the Tick had gathered over the last year. It was... probably a good idea that he got that to him sooner rather then later.  
  
The Terror, the true Symbol of Evil, a greater threat to all of mankind, to the world, beyond even the late All for One or the League of Villains.  
  
It was enough to make him shiver!  
  
Was the sudden appearance of the Tick's ex-wife at the same time he was confronted by Caped Wonder a plot by the Terror to discredit the Hero of Heroes? Who had been stopping the Terror day in and day out since before Quirks even appeared?  
  
... anything and everything was likely at this point.  
  
So with that decided, he knew what he had to do! He sorted through the files he had about Trigger and the Terror and looked through them. He was going to build a case to present to Prinicipal Nedzu and he was going to let the pro heroes deal with this! There was no reason why he had to worry. There was no reason not to tell them about the Terror's return and that it appeared that everything that seemed to happen in the last few months came back to the Terror.  
  
Thinking about it? Izuku was more then certain at this point, that the American villains that joined Tomura Shigaraki was another one of the many machinations of the Terror! That was the only thing that made sense!


	72. Issue 65

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue 65  
  
So it finally started. The first day of school of the fall term. All of them had been at the school the last few days, they were helping each other move into the dorms. It was for their own protection, of course, the League of Villains was still out there. Plotting and who knows what they were doing?  
  
Then of course... there was their home room teacher, standing up at the front... and looking over the gathered students. "Welcome back to UA. Congratulations on deciding to continue your heroic education... however, with the conversion of UA into a Boarding School for the foreseeable future, there are some ground rules." He walked up the board and started writing upon it.  
  
"Rule 1: If you have any problems, you'll note that I've not you my cellphone number. That is on purpose. Please present any issues with Class Representative Midoriya or Vice Class Representative Yaoyorozu. Rule 2: I have my eyes on all of you! Just because you don't think I can see you doesn't me that I can't I'm watching you... like a hawk." He was making sure that each and everyone of them could see his eyes.  
  
"And finally, Rule 3: There is a strict 9pm curfew. You'll need to be in your dorm building by then, or you will face punishment. Lights out is typically 11pm. This will be strictly enforced." He had his hands on Izuku's desk, and leaned in uncomfortably close. "Am I clear, Midoriya?"  
  
The green haired teen was leaning back, and nodded. "Imported crystal, sir!" He could feel the sweat forming on his brow. They were going to be serious about him not going around and being a vigilante. But would he really be a hero capable of carrying the legacy of One for All if he would let others tell him what to do?  
  
Probably not!  
  
"Now to get started. The original plan was that during the... disaster that Summer Camp turned into you would be getting your provisional hero licenses. Due to the aforementioned disaster, we'll be instead participating in this year's Provisional License Exam." He sighed again, as he went over to the black board. "For the last twenty years, Japan had been using the Derby System. There would only be 200 licenses up for grabs, period, and only the ones that manage to pass through the various stages would manage to attain one."  
  
A gasp went out from the gathered teenagers. Only 200 licenses? For the entire country? Every year!? They would be competing with every hero course in Japan! The chances of any of them getting a license would be negligible! Arbitrary, even! They were murmuring to each other as they conversed about this disaster in the making!  
  
"Quiet! I said had been using! Japan over the last... few weeks has decided to re-enter the World Stage of Professional Heroics and signed a new Hero Treaty. So... you will be the first class in over 50 years to make use of the AEGIS..." He sighed. "Five Focuses of the Civic Minded Hero."  
  
If the last statement caused the whole class to gasp, this did it but more so. Shota Aizawa wasn't getting paid enough for this while he pinched the bridge of his nose. He let them quiet down on his own, taking a seat at his desk, leaning back, closing his eyes.  
  
He did not, in fact, fall asleep, and he was not, in fact, awoken by one of the students calling out his name. "Ahem. Now that you're all ready... in anticipation for this, we have a film for you to watch. Please enjoy." Finally... that would keep them distracted. The lights in the room dimmed and the projector started.  
  
It started off simple enough. Even if it was in black and white.  
  
**AEGIS PRESENTS: YOU TOO CAN BE A HERO!**  
  
'Young Johnny is a lot like you. He's in his first year of high school and he doesn't know what he's going to do with his life. Ain't that right Johnny?' The Narrator opened up with a kid about their age walking in his neighborhood. He had a baseball bat slung over his shoulder, a glove hanging off of it. He looked around, confused.  
  
'Are you talking to me, Mister?' The young man put a hand on his chest.  
  
'Of course, Johnny! Who else would I be talking too? You just get back from practice?' The Narrator asked, as Johnny started to walk back home.  
  
'Yeah, coach says we need to be in tip top shape if we're to face our crosstown rivals! But I think we can do it, it's just... baseball is great and all, but...' The young man sighed, his shoulders slumped.  
  
'It doesn't excite you, huh? Well... have you practiced with your Enhanced Humanity Quotient?' The young man looked confused at the Narrator's question.  
  
'... my what?'  
  
'Your quirk, son... what's your quirk? Oops, looks like I forgot to mention that Johnny is one of those lucky few among us with a super power! Remember, only 20 percent of humanity has such enhancements!' With that said, Johnny understood.  
  
'Oh! Right! Yeah! I can do this!' He swiped his hand in front of him, creating a solid barrier of light. Despite being in black and white, it was obvious that it was supposed multicolored. 'Yeah, my mom says I shouldn't go and use it, but I've been practicing during gym class! Coach says a quirk is just as part of us as any other muscle and if you don't use it, it'll atrophy!'  
  
'Sounds like a smart man! And it looks like you'll need to put it into good use!' The young man once again looked confused, tilting his head to the side and then there was a rumbling and out of the field next to the houses, the land buckled and it split!  
  
'YAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA! I, the Terror, have brought for my indomitable, unbeatable MOLE MEN UNDERMINERS! YAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" It was... the Terror! In all his evil glory. Well, not the real Terror of course. It looked like an old man in make up, wearing a classic Silver Age Terror costume, an all black suit with the T emblem on his chest. His soldiers were, as he stated, mole men armed with various mining picks.  
  
'You better run home, Johnny! Looks like the Terror is gonna give your quirk quite the work out!' And Johnny did run, his ball cap flying off his head at he practically took off to him home, as the Terror's malevolent mole men minions made merry mayhem! The young man was calling out for his mother and his younger sister!  
  
'Mom! Vicky! We gotta get some place safe! The Terror is attacking!' This was a nightmare come true for the young man! His family was under attack by the True Symbol of Evil! What was he going to do? What could he do!? Was there any way he could stop this!? And then he saw it! One of the Terror's minions, armed with some kind of laser weapon! He kicked it into over drive, leapt in front of his mother and sister, hands forming that rainbow barrier of light... just as the blast hit!  
  
He took it on the chin, the shield his quirk made taking the brunt of it, but it was enough to send the teen flying through the window! This was it... his whole home town was completely doomed.  
  
Then they heard it, it was booming so loud they thought it would shake the glass out of the windows.  
  
'Ah-hahaha! There's no need to fear! Why!? Because I am here!' And it was the man himself. Caped Wonder. The Hero of Heroes. It left a bit of a sour taste in Izuku's mouth, because it was the actual hero himself, where as the Terror was nothing more then an actor. 'Your ill timed mischief end's now, TERROR!'  
  
'Caped Wonder!? HA! Ending? It's only beginning! GO MY UNDER MINERS!' The Terror made a sweeping gestured, sending his mole men minions to attack the perfectly coifed hero, who shrugged. He didn't have time for this! Every minute dealing with this was a family caught in a flood! A hurricane unstopped! A tornado un-directed! A volcano's flow of lava not redirected!  
  
'Sorry, Terror! But I have no time to play! BALTIMORE!' He leapt at the horse of monster mole men! 'BEAT-DOWN!' And his arms blurred as hundreds... thousands... of blows rained down on the Terror's army! Hurricane force winds built up, soon sending the Terror and his under miners into the air.  
  
'Darn you, Caped Wonder! DARN YOU TO HEEEEEEEECK!' The Terror shouted, as he was blasted into the distance. The day was saved. A wipe occurred and the recovery was coming along quickly. Johnny, was no worse for wear, though his arm was in a sling.  
  
'Gee, Mister Wonder. If only you could watch over my neighborhood all the time!' Johnny sighed. 'All I did was get myself hurt.' The Hero of Heroes laughed heartily.  
  
'Johnny, my boy, you want to know a secret? You ask any of the greatest heroes about their first act of bravery and they'll tell you the same thing! They just started moving on their own, like they couldn't control their legs.' The caped man was smiling and laughing, ruffling Johnny's hair.  
  
'Wait... like when I started running for home...?' The young man's face lit up.  
  
'Exactly, son! If you practice with your quirk, study hard... why? You too can be a hero!' And the circle wipe ended, as both Johnny and Caped Wonder laughed!

  
'And you too can be a hero! We here, at AEGIS, have instituted the Five Focuses of Civic Minded Heroes. To receive an official AEGIS license, all one has to do is achieve a 75% rating in three of the five focuses. They are as Follows:  
A - Action. When evil beckons, it is the hero's job to fight it! Whether by overpowering villains or outwitting them, the ability to defeat criminals and bring them to justice is a major part of a hero's life. When a hero is needed, he must take Action!  
E - Engagement. There's more to heroism than just beating up thugs. A hero needs to be able to communicate. To talk with the people, to learn when and where a hero is needed. And to talk to villains, to convince them to stand down while inflicting minimal damage on people and property. All of this comes from the ability to Engage with others.  
G - Greatness. A hero is more than a man. He is a symbol. He can be a Symbol of Peace, bringing hope for a brighter day. He can be a Symbol of Fear, scaring away those would would bring a darker night. Greatness is a measure of a would-be hero's character and spirit.  
I - Investigation. It's not enough to be able to fight villains. You have to be able to know who the villain that needs to be thwarted is, and where to find him. A hero who attacks the wrong person is no hero at all. And if you cannot find the villain's lair or figure out where they'll strike next, you'll likely never be in a position to fight evil in the first place. You must Investigate if you want to find crime to fight.  
S - Search and Rescue. Whether from acts of god or acts of evil, people will end up in jeopardy and will need a hero to save them. A hero needs to be able to find those in need of rescue, extract them from immediate harm, and see to it that they hold on until fully trained medics arrive. A hero must be ready to Search for those in danger and Rescue them!' The screen was filled with the various descriptions of what the Five Focuses were supposed to be, each with a little cartoon detailing them further.  
  
'And remember, kids! Just like Caped Wonder said! If you train daily, study hard, and apply yourself! You too can be a hero!'  
  
With that... the film was over.  
  
It was bad. It was filled with the typical... gee golly goodness of times gone by. With it being over, the lights turned up and the projector stopped.  
  
"Alright..." Aizawa managed to catch a nap during the film. "Does anyone have any questions?" Almost every single hand shot up. He sighed and closed his yes. "Yes, Kaminari?"  
  
"... how old is this film...?"  
  
"Recovery Girl watched it when she was a freshman at UA. Any other questions?" There was plenty of hands still in the air. Aizawa sighed again. "Relevant questions?" They all went down.  
  
"So... the exam is in a week. So you have a week to figure out how to take what you learned at Summer Camp, last semester, and on your own... any skills or techniques that you think will assist you." That wasn't so bad. And then the bell rang, ending home room period.  
  
Fantastic. He loved it when he didn't have to do a damn thing.


	73. Issue 66

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue 66  
  
"My, my, my!" Nedzu was looking through this evidence presented before him. It looked like the young man seated across his desk managed to put his time as a vigilante to good use, very good use! "I've seen professional heroes that aren't able to put together a portfolio of evidence quite like this, Mister Midoriya."  
  
Still, the information provided in the evidence... it wasn't anything that UA Principal didn't already know, but... he didn't need to tell the young man that he was absolutely correct about the return of the single greatest evil in living memory.  
  
"I know, it wasn't until we found some of his... soldiers? Minions? They mentioned that they served the Terror. I know, it normally doesn't mean anything, but I'm certain! I'm certain that the Terror has returned!" Oh, if only Izuku could truly know the severity of what he was actually saying. It was the truth, of course, but... they couldn't just tell anyone. If it leaked, if it spread? It would be mass hysteria!  
  
And now they had actual evidence that there was a connection between Trigger and the Terror, he would have to distribute this to those he could trust. This was important.  
  
"It's not just that, sir. It's... I don't even know how to put it. People talk about Trigger as if it's a dangerous drug, and it is. But it's not what people think it is." Izuku stated. He had to think his words through. "Yes, it super charges a quirk. But no one is able to use their super charged quirk because Trigger is..."  
  
He paused, mid-thought. That was one of the things that Tenya told him. That he was too high to do anything, really, during the fight with Stain. "Trigger leaves you in a state where you can't take advantage of it. And I think it serves a purpose other then making money or disrupting society."  
  
"Do you have a theory on what that is?" Nedzu asked the young man.Truly the likes of the Terror had no need for money, no need for funding. The Terror always seemed to have the resources needed to do what he needed to do. And for being a demented, psychopath had a charismatic force of personality that inspired loyalty.  
  
"I don't know, yet. It's been wracking my brain the last few weeks, why the Terror would go and supply a drug that... only causes chaos. It can't be for the sake of anarchy, could it?" Izuku asked. He didn't know anything, sadly. The Terror was the kind to do just that. This was a man that would kill a man, then kick a puppy. Nedzu steepled his paws together.  
  
"Now, now, Mister Midoriya. Let's not get too hasty. Just because it's the minions that served and claim to still serve the Terror, doesn't mean that the Terror has returned. Let's not make any hasty assumptions. Let's be reasonable for a moment. The Terror? Yes, the Terror would be the one to have plots within plots and wheels within wheels trudging along without his guiding hand. Thank you for this portfolio, just the same. We'll get to the bottom of this, don't worry." The Principal said to reassure the green haired young man that professional heroes will finish this job! That he did good! And he should focus on his studies.  
  
Izuku nodded. "Thank you, sir." Left the evidence on the desk and bid the administrator fair well. As soon as he was on the other side of the door, he let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding in. Dealing with the principal was something... he wasn't sure he wanted to do with it as often as he ended doing so. The principal could be creepy if you weren't used to dealing with him.  
  
The young man let out a chuckle.  
  
"Look at that, you're actually used to dealing with the school administrators." He shook his head. Could this day get any weirder?  
  
Maybe not weirder, but certainly stranger.  
  
It was after school for one, just about everyone in the Hero Courses were trying to figure out what they'd need to pass the mystery Provisional License exams that were only a few days away. So he was surprised when he saw Momo Yaoyorozu and Kyoka Jirou approach him.  
  
"Yaoyorozu... Jirou... what's up?" Izuku, as the Class Representative for 1-A, had a bit of an open door policy. That they could always contact and talk with him if they had any issue going on with class or even if they just needed an open ear to talk too.  
  
This had proved to be a mistake only a few days into being made Rep, but he wasn't about to rescind it because it would be convenient!  
  
Still, his pony-tailed vice representative, the one woman that could actually organize class outings and get together during the summer started to mumble as she looked down and she was blushing. Izuku looked over to Kyoka instead.  
  
"Yaomomo wants to know if you can help her with something." Izuku quirked an eye brow. What would Momo need help with? She was plenty competent and didn't need any of his help. "She wants you to talk with Todoroki. She's sweet on him "Don't say it like that!" and she's worried that he's moping around for some reason." The way she was capable of just impassively ignoring Momo's interruption was... almost inspiring, actually.  
  
"Wait... you want me to talk with him? I wouldn't call the two of us friends." ... ... ... he thought for a moment. After the whole Hosu thing, Shoto did open up to him. They talked between classes, helped each other out on projects, studying together for quizzes, and... oh, oh no!  
  
"EGADS!" Izuku shouted, his face in his hands. "I'm Todoroki's best friend!" It had never even occurred to him that the normally anti-social fire and ice user saw Izuku as more then just a comrade and a classmate.  
  
"Yyyyyyyyep." Kyoka popped the last syllable, an impassive look on her face, but he should see the slight upturned corners of a smirk forming at either end of her mouth. Izuku sighed, this was how it was going to be, then it was how it was going to be.  
  
"Alright. I'll talk to him. How bad could it possibly be?" Izuku said, smiling. Shoto was a friend, a friend in need, at that!  
  
Which was exactly why he sent him a text asking if he wanted to talk. He hated lying, but sometimes, you had to lie, especially when you were helping someone that probably wouldn't actually ask for help anyway. And so it was that he, Kyoka, and Momo waited for Shoto in the common room of their dorm building.  
  
The other young man, with the split colored hair raised an eyebrow when he saw the three waiting for him. "I thought you said you needed some help with your English homework...?" He asked. The text that Izuku sent didn't say anything about Kyoka or Momo. Still, curiosity was greater then anything and he took a seat.  
  
"Todoroki, I like to think that we're friends and... as your friend... as your class representative, I think we need to talk." He was really bad at the whole sounding like an authority, like he knew what he was doing. It was like a duck on the surface of the water. Calm and smooth on the surface... kicking like crazy underwater.  
  
"Talk? About what?"  
  
"I think one of the first things I said to the class is that if you have any problems, any problem at all, you can come and talk to me and we'll figure out how to make it work." Izuku sighed. Time to get down to brass tacks. "Yaoyorozu and Jirou are worried about you. I can't imagine how what had happened over the summer affected you. You're the son of the Number 1 Hero, after all."  
  
The fire and ice user was looking at the three of them, mostly focusing on the green haired young man. He was glaring daggers at Izuku. "You have no idea what it's like being the son of Endeavor." His voice was right above a whisper.  
  
"I'm... not sure I understand...?" What was Shoto getting at, that seemed like such an odd thing to say.  
  
"My father... the Flame Hero: Endeavor... the Number 1 Hero of All Japan... is not a 'decent' man." He actually did the air quotes. It would have been comical if wasn't so serious. "My father had one singular goal in his life: To Surpass All Might as the Number 1 Hero in Japan. He was a man who lived in a shadow of a mountain and did everything he could to surmount it. But All Might was the Tallest Peak in the world, and my father was lacking."  
  
Izuku, Hero Otaku that he was, knew that there was a bit of a rivalry between All Might and Endeavor. All Might was all smiles and laughter and everyone knew it was going to be all right when he arrived. Endeavor was a stern, grimacing investigator, but was capable of great strength. The day would be saved if Endeavor was there, but... he wasn't capable of the same inspiration that All Might was.  
  
"Oh, but he had a plan. If he couldn't be the number 1 hero in the country, he was going to be the father of the number 1 hero of the next generation." Shoto Todoroki... told the other three about his family, or the sociology experiment created by Endeavor. That he cajoled and bribed the family of Shoto's mother to agree to a marriage. How there was exactly 4 years between each sibling.  
  
Until Shoto turned four years old. And had the perfect merging of his Father's Hellfire Quirk and his Mother's Hailstorm Quirk. Half-Hot, Half-Cold. And from then was when the troubles started. It never was a great home life at the Todoroki home, but Endeavor's training of his magnum opus was a new stress. His parents were always arguing and then... it finally happened.  
  
"My mother suffered a mental break down and she thought... she thought I was my father and..." He didn't say anything, just motioned to his face, to his scar. "It was how I got this. Not long after that, Endeavor had her committed to an insane asylum and my eldest brother ran away from home. Not that I blame him. Eventually I came to hate my old man, promised that I would never use his fire, that I would be the Number 1 hero without using his quirk."  
  
"What... changed your mind...?" Izuku asked, after a few seconds of silence. He had seen Shoto use his flames. Most importantly, when they had that disaster in trying to retrieve Katsuki.  
  
"The Sports Festival. Losing to Bakugo in the first round was an eye opener. I was never going to get anywhere by half-assing it." Shoto said. "And that's my story, I suppose. My father is an asshole. Emotionally and mentally abusive and I hate him so much. But I found my spite is a hell of a motivator."  
  
The three sitting across from him continued to do so, unblinking. A few tense moments passed, before Izuku broke the silence.  
  
"Well, that's..." What does he even say to that?!  
  
"I want to thank you, Midoriya... it's been... a relief to finally tell someone about all this..." The other man was... there was a single tear rolling forming at his good eye. It must have felt like years of tension finally washed away from him and before anyone had known what had happened...  
  
Momo Yaoyorozu was hugging Shoto. Izuku was surprised. Kyoka was surprised. But most of all, Shoto was surprised!  
  
"I think the two of you need to be left alone." Kyoka said, as she stood up and pulled Izuku with her. "We were just leaving anyway." The two left the common room and were out in the kitchen.  
  
"That was certainly awkward." Izuku said, he poured a cup of coffee for himself and Kyoka.  
  
"Ain't that the truth. I mean, I figured Yaomomo had a thing for Todoroki quick, but... jeeze." Kyoka took the offered cup. "This sounds like it's a bit over our heads, isn't it? Learning Todoroki's secret origins. To think that Endeavor could be like that..."  
  
"I..." Izuku didn't know what to say. He thought about it, thought about it some more. "I don't know if we could do anything with that information. And even if we did... Endeavor is the number 1 hero now. What would happen if the country finds out that Endeavor is an emotionally and mentally abusive monster that treated his family like a eugenics experiment?" He let that sink in.  
  
"... All Might's retirement almost sent the country into ruin..." Kyoka sighed, and sipped at her coffee. "I almost wish Yaomomo wasn't so enamored with Todoroki... this is something I really didn't want to know."  
  
"I think... I think the best thing to do is to respect Todoroki's privacy for now when it comes to his family, but..." He trailed off. What could he possibly say that would make any of this good?  
  
"I doesn't feel right, does it?"  
  
"No... no it does not."


	74. Issue 67

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue 67  
  
This was it. The day had come. With a crash course on how to get the best out of their quirks, a week long study program leading up to the Provisional Licensing Exam. The license that would let them be considered true heroes! ... on a provisional basis, of course. But it would let them be able to intern for professional heroes, a boon to any student of the heroic inclination.  
  
Each and everyone of them would have the opportunity to earn such a license, but the eyes of the Nation were on the group from UA. And not only that, the other major hero academies would be there as, well, so they would have to carry the school's good name in front of it's competitor.  
  
All in all? it wasn't so bad. They arrived via the buses, almost a half hour early! And Izuku Midoriya already knew exactly who would be watching them, as he saw the other groups of students mill around. The rest of Team Midoriya was with him, in costume and looking at the students from the other academies.  
  
"Well, Midoriya. You know who we got ahead of us?" Itsuka asked, it had been a few interesting weeks after the Summer Camp, but Team Midoriya was back in action!  
  
"I recognize the uniforms. Students for Shiketsu High School, Ketsubutsu Academy High School, and Seiai Academy." Of course Izuku would be such a hero otaku that he'd know of three of the other top hero academies in the country.  
  
"You would know that, wouldn't you Midoriya..." Hitoshi was shaking his head, as he adjust his bow tie. "Ketsubuts Academy is the one I'd be worried about. I know who one of their home room teachers is..."  
  
"Yoohoo! ERASER!" Hitoshi didn't have a chance to say, as said teacher approached the pro hero homeroom teacher of class 1-A, The Smile Hero: Miss Joke. Eraserhead did anything and everything he could to ignore her. Up until she marched right up to him, and got up close in his personal space.  
  
"Do we really need to do this now, Joke?" The 1-A homeroom teacher wasn't having any of them. It was too early in the morning for the man to deal with his incorrible students, having to mingle with the staff and proctors overseeing the exams, and have to deal with Emi Fukukado.  
  
"We certainly need to do something!" The Smile Hero replied, smiling brightly. The members of Team Midoriya, the only UA clique close enough to hear the two heroes banter with each other had the good sense to blush with the outrageous flirting the one was initiating. They all turned to Hitoshi, who had spend his Field Work expierence with Eraserhead and Ms. Joke.  
  
"Don't look at me. That's how they acted all week after the Sports Festival. I'm not sure if she's messing with him or if that's how their relationship is..." Hitoshi shrugged, as weirded out as any of the others by the two professional heroes slash teachers and their odd, truncated flirting.  
  
"I think it's kinda sweet, actually." Ochako said. "Probably? I mean, if it's mutual and not just Ms. Joke messing with Eraserhead." Watching the way the two were talking, Ms Joke was flirting, where as Eraserhead... was just ignoring her.  
  
"I think we have bigger issues, actually." Izuku said, pointing over to some of the other students from the other academies confronting one Katsuki Bakugo. A scene was about to start. A horrible, horrible scene. Izuku wasn't sure why everyone thought that 1-A in particular and UA in general must have thought they were hot stuff because they were dealing with villains and the like.  
  
Most of the UA students didn't think being attacked by villains left and right. Before the confrontation could go out of control with Katsuki being Katsuki, a siren sounded. The exams... were going to be begin! It was rather simple. The entire day there would be several tests to see what their rating in the Five Focuses of the Civic Minded Hero. All they had to do was get 75% in any three of the Focuses and without getting less then 50% in the other two, and you were in!  
  
In fact, they did have all day to do every test, each test could be taken multiple times, and finally, only the best score from each test was kept by the end of the day. Another alarm sounded and the whole throng of costume wearing students charged into the testing facilities!  
  
_Almost two hours later...!_  
  
Katsuki Bakugo... was having the time of his life! One on one combat with those other, lesser students from other, lesser academies! His Action rating was through the roof! All he had to do was beat up a bunch of teenagers! Being a hero was great! All he needed to do was figure out two more focuses to work on, but he needed a small break. Recharge his batteries.  
  
Oh, yeah, and there was the whole humble brag with Eijiro and Mina. Those two probably were struggling through this whole thing. Oh well, he was the lynch pin of the Bakusquad! And he'd help the other two... what they had... it was special.  
  
"Raccoon Eyes, Shitty Hair!" he finally caught up with them. "What else do you two need?" Katsuki was sitting pretty at a cool 87 in Action. He couldn't imagine what those two had...  
  
"Errr... hey Bakubro... eh-hehe!" Eijiro started, scratching the back of his neck.  
  
"Katsuki! Check it out!" Mina held up something. "Me and Eijiro already got our licenses!"  
  
... ... ... ... ... what!? WHAT!?  
  
"WHAT THE FFFFFFFFUCK!?" He looked at them, looked at their score cards, the spider graph and they were both at 90+ percent in Engagement, Search and Rescue, and Greatness! What the hell!? How did that happen? "It's only been an hour!? How the fuck did you two already pass!?"  
  
Eijiro looked at Mina, who shrugged. "So... our first test we took together was some kind of disaster, dealing with an earthquake caused by a super villain. It let us test everything and it took over 90 minutes, but then they graded us and next thing we know."  
  
"We're official, Bakubro!" Eijiro held up a hand. "High five, man! We all got our licenses!"  
  
Katsuki was glaring daggers at the both of them. Eijiro's face slowly fell as realization dawned upon him. Katsuki hadn't gotten his license just yet.  
  
"God damn it, Shitty Hair! I didn't even want to deal with "Engagement" and "Greatness" clap trap! Look what you've done!" The ash blonde was grabbing at his hair. "BUT I'LL BE DEAD AND COLD IN THE GROUND BEFORE I LET YOU TOP ME SHITTY HAIR!"  
  
He was filled with determination, his eyes hard as he pointed right at the faux redhead licensee!  
  
"...phraaaasing...!" His moment was ruined by some asshole that over heard them. Katsuki yelled one more time, grabbed both of them by the wrist, and dragged them with him.  
  
"Just you watch! I'll get an even better score then either of you! Just you watch!"  
  
And so it was, that the Bakusquad headed to the next testing area, so that Katsuki Bakugo would show off how great he could be! The first test was simply explained.  
  
"While patrolling, you see a man drop his wallet. Hand it back to him. Tch! Easy!" Katsuki read the rules, cracked his neck, and got this started! Turns out in a lot of these tests, they were using civilians to play the part of... civilians. In his case, a portly pink man that... well, Katsuki never wondered what a humanoid starfish would look like, but... here he was.  
  
The man dropped his wallet and kept walking. Katsuki could do this, he snatched the wallet off the ground and followed after.  
  
"Yo! You dropped your wallet!" Katsuki said, holding it out the man.  
  
"Doesn't look familiar to me." The man replied, in a deep voice. Katsuki frowned.  
  
"What... but I just saw you drop it. Here." He was trying his best not to snap, trying his absolute best.  
  
"No, it's not mine." The man said, again Katsuki could feel his temper rising. He could do this.  
  
"It... is yours. I am taking a moment out of my day to return it to you!"  
  
"Return what to who?" Katsuki counted to ten, took a deep breath, and tried not to do anything rash. He opened up the wallet and pulled out the ID.  
  
"Aren't you Pat Hoshi?" He asked the... pink creature.  
  
"Yep!"  
  
"And this is your ID, no?"  
  
"Yep!"  
  
"I found this ID..." He put the card back in the wallet. "In this wallet. If that's the case, this must be your wallet."  
  
"Makes sense to me!"  
  
"Then take it!" Katsuki offered the faux leather fold to the pink man again.  
  
"But it's nto my wallet!" ... ... ... ... that was it. Katsuki lost.  
  
"YOU DIM BULB! TAKE THE FUCKING WALLET BEFORE I BLOW YOU UP!" Katsuki practically screamed at the top of his lungs, only stopped by a loud buzzer. A slip printed out next to him. It said failure in great big, red letters.  
  
"... ... ..." He took the slip and stomped away, dropping the wallet, quietly fuming.  
  
"You... you alright, Bakubro?" Eijiro asked. That was a pretty brutal failure, and he was certain that Katsuki wasn't going to retake that one.  
  
"Like, I think I get what your problem is!" It was a new voice, they turned to see the speaker, and Katsuki frowned even more. It was that blonde Shiketsu bimbo who was cheering on her classmate with the weird flesh clay thing. What was her name? Capris?  
  
"See, Kaacchan, you're being, like, completely heinous and junk. But I think this test? It's, like, to make sure you don't go completely bogus." She was talking to them from her perch on a retaining wall. She was... admittedly, she was rather alluring, and he could see the other two members of the Bakusquad's eyes roam over her. But Katsuki wasn't going to admit that! She was the enemy on this day! And the nickname... Katsuki thought that only Izuku was going to call him that, which he hadn't for years, but no... they just had to introduce him in the fight by his full name and not as Ground Zero, and some other loser decided to use it!  
  
... it was a conspiracy, it had to be!  
  
"Uh... Mina, do you know what she just said?" Eijiro asked his pink skinned friend.  
  
"... was that even Japanese...?" Mina asked, also dumb founded.  
  
"Ugh! All three of you are, like, the boomiest of boomers! Get with the times and brush up on your lit lingo! Just take my advice: Try being more fetch and less unexcellent, and you'll, like, show everyone just how Great you can be." She jumped off her perch, and walked passed them. "I'm pullin' for you, Kaacchan, good luck!"  
  
The red eyed, ash blonde felt his eye twitch. He didn't need this, he really didn't need this. He was being distracted by all of this. He had to move onto the next test. He didn't even bother to read it, bother to communicate to the proctors.  
  
Help a lady across the street, that's all. How hard could that be? It turned out it could be really, really, really hard.  
  
The old bat didn't want to budge and hit him with her purse! And that some how was a failure on his part! These tests were designed to test his patience and it was beyond intolerable that he was being forced to do this! Fucking Ejiro, fucking Mina, and fucking Capris!  
  
He tried another test and five minutes later he was meeting up with the pink skinned princess and the faux redhead.  
  
"You okay, Katsuki?" Eijiro asked, looking as the ash blonde was covered with scratches and cuts.  
  
"I ffffffffucking hate cats!"


	75. Issue 68

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue 68  
  
Shota Aizawa and Sekijiro Kan were keeping an eye on their charges with the other teachers in an observation room, allowing them to see all the students taking their various tests. So far, it was going swimmingly, but... even the Erasure Hero had to take some umbridge at the Logical Ruse that the test givers used.  
  
"Still not sure I like the whole thing with the Battle Royale. I think it was uncalled for." He had his arms crossed and noted that at least four of his own students took part in it. Katsuki Bakugo, Rikido Sato, Hanta Sero, and Mezo Shoji. He'd have to go and talk with them after this was done, that they just took what was given to them at face value.  
  
"... you're complaining about a logical ruse, Aizawa?" The Blood Hero wasn't exactly buying it, raising an eyebrow.  
  
"I explained my logical ruse after the fact. These AEGIS people just tell the kids that five of them were told to behave as villains, acting independently from each other and told that if they reveal they were villains, it was an automatic failure. When in fact no one was picked to be a villain at all." It was actually rather brilliant, the trap. Tell the gathered students that a few of them were villains, but couldn't say who, and it encouraged the kids to fight each other in the arena, when in fact the test was to see who would just randomly fight other heroes.  
  
The principal he agreed with. Just because they were heroes didn't mean that they had to try and beat up every single costumed customer they came across. ... just observing the students falling into that trap made his nose itch.  
  
"So you think it'd be better if they were told that they failed while they were still up on the fight, filled with Adrenaline, or after the testing, to let them have some perspective...?" Was Kan's question to Aizawa.  
  
"I wouldn't have set up the honey trap, in all honesty. There's better ways to test so called Action then set up a battle royale." Aizawa shook his head. "They'll end up resenting the test, best case scenario. Worst case scenario, they'll end up resenting us. We have our work cut out for us in the next few days, Kan."

* * *

 

Across the way, a trio of students were working their way through their tests! A few of them didn't say what they were testing before the fact, only after! If that was the case, how did they know that they were testing a different focus then the last one? IT WAS MADDENING!  
  
"This is MADDENING! How can they expect us to work in such a situation!" Minoru Mineta, the Hero in Training Grape Juice (and the super cool, super suave, super awesome vigilante Dark Wine!) complained. They had done three tests and managed to all pass, but the fact was, they just kept testing investigation! How could they go into three separate tests, separated from each other, and just test the same thing. Again and again and again!  
  
"It's only been 2 hours, man! We got this in the bag! We have all day to pass, you know?" Denki Kaminari, the Hero in Training Chargebolt (and vigilante Railgun) replied. These were tests he could get behind! They didn't stress him out at all!  
  
"We'll manage. Don't worry." Ochako Uraraka, the Zero Gravity Hero: Uravity (and the Super Strong Vigilante: Dive Bomber) was the one behaving like an adult. She was going to be the one that had to lead the other two. Why did she choose to work with Denki and Minoru? Sure, she considered herself friends with them, but sometimes...  
  
Her thought was interrupted, as a mulleted man came running up to them, gesticulating wildly!  
  
"Ah'll tell you hwut, man, I find a dang ol' buncha wires stickin' outta bottle a'gas with a ticker attached an' Ah ain't know what Ah'm s'posed to do about the dang thang!" His candor was quick and his accent was thick.  
  
"... was that even japanese...?" Denki asked, dumbfounded.  
  
"... I think...?" Minoru wasn't really sure. Ochako sighed, shaking her head.  
  
"He's from Osaka, right?" She asked the man, who nodded quickly.  
  
"Yeah, man! Yeah! Kansai, born'n'raised! Now ya'll gonna do anythang 'bout the gas bottle with the dang ol' wires?" He kept asking, speaking quickly. They still looked at him, not really understanding. Ochako knew the words, but she was trying to figure out what he actually meant. The man rolled his eyes.  
  
"Ugh! KA-BOOM!" And just as he said it... the whole block exploded. Looks like it was a search and rescue test! Ochako swallowed.  
  
"Alright, Grape Juice... Chargebolt... let's go save some people!" Uravity said, slapping a fist into her palm. They could do this! Grape Juice and Chargebolt right behind her nodded, as they headed into the heart of the disaster!

* * *

 

Hitoshi Shinsou, he refused to refer to himself as Mister Quiz!, was enjoying himself. More then he enjoyed the camp, at least. He was getting good marks in Engagement, Greatness, and believe it or not, Action! Being able to talk anyone off of any ledge, any crime, or into surrender? Brainwash, he was finally realizing, was an awesome quirk!

  
He was sitting pretty, almost literally in this sense, on a bench. He needed to rest his feet, for one! And for two, he was doing pretty good. He already had his 75s that he needed, he just needed to go and get his Investigation and Search and Rescue. Unfortunately, Brainwash wasn't very good at either of those.  
  
"Quiz! You mind giving me a hand...?" Hitoshi let out a sigh. He was going to live with the Mister Quiz moniker for the rest of his life, wasn't he? He saw Izuku Midoriya in that ridiculous rabbit costume of his. At least he didn't have his hood up.  
  
"What do you want, Midoriya? I'm catching my breath." Hitoshi replied, returning back to resting his head and just enjoying a nice, little break.  
  
"... can you even attempt to call me Jack Rabbit when I'm in uniform..." Izuku said, frowning. How could someone want to be in the hero course, and then not even attempt to enjoy the minutia of being a hero?  
  
"No. And don't call me Mister Quiz. It's weird." Hitoshi replied, with his same attitude that he approached everything. He was so much like a dead fish sometimes.  
  
"Fine. Whatever. Shinso, I need someone to help me with an investigation test. Says it's for two people, and I figured we could work together and knock it out for both of us." The green haired, super strong young man said. A super hero team up. Of course he would want to do something like that.  
  
"Before I agree to help or not help, can I at least see what the tip is...?" Hitoshi asked, as Izuku sighed and handed the ticket over to him.  
  
"'You are on patrol with a fellow hero, when you hear a scream. You come to a home hosting a dinner party, the host has been murdered and the guests are terrified. One of them is the murderer. Who?'" He looked at the slip, then at Izuku, then back at the slip. "... this is the plot to Cluedo, you know."  
  
There was a brief moment that passed. One beat, then another. Hitoshi sighed, as he couldn't stand looking at Izuku's big green eyes, on the verge of tears.  
  
"Fine, I'll help." He promptly, and pointedly, ignored Izuku's triumphant exclamation.

* * *

The dread that Tenya Iida was feeling... was palpable. He had taken off the helmet of his costume, his hands up as he approached the man.  
  
"I said don't come any closer, man!" The man was shaking, jittery, even as he had a woman pulled close, a hostage, pointing a knife at Tenya. "It was supposed to be easy, if she didn't scream, it wouldn't come down to this!"  
  
"You're right, it doesn't have to be like this at all." Tenya replied. He had to keep the man from doing anything that he would regret, or that Tenya would regret letting happen. He could see what this was. Man mug's a woman, stop it. Simple enough, but it was the little things. The black track marks on the man's bare arms, the way he was going through the DTs.  
  
Tenya Iida, unfortunately, had an idea on how withdrawal felt, too. "But it's not just her screaming, you know."  
  
"... what're you talkin', about man? She has money... I need money!" The man, the junkie, shouted. "You don't know what it's like man... I can't sleep, I can't eat, but none of that matters, as long as...!"  
  
"As long as you get your next fix, right?" Tenya finished with him. He took the moment where the man was confused, off balance and took a step forward.  
  
"You don't know nothin', man! High and mighty hero, thinks he knows what it's like out there, out in the streets!" The man was wildly waving his weapon.  
  
"You've been hurting, haven't you? It's why you turned to that garbage, in the first place. But all it's done is hurt you more, so you take more and it becomes a vicious cycle of using and depression, didn't it?" Another step... it was small, but he was making progress.  
  
"It's just... after I lost my job... I needed something to cope and my wife left me... I just... I just..." The knife clattered to the ground as it fell. The woman was released, and the man fell down to his knees, wailing.  
  
It took all of Tenya's willpower to not join him on the ground of that dirty alley way.


	76. Issue 69

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue 69  
  
This would probably be the hardest test that Jack Rabbit ever had to face. A grisly murder! A half dozen suspects! Oh, he was almost giddy with excitement! He looked over to his partner in this case, Mister Quiz... and almost frowned. Why couldn't Hitoshi Shinso be as excited as he was about this!  
  
Sure, it was a dramatized test, but this was fun! How could this not be fun? They entered the house, then entered the room where the scream originated from. Jack Rabbit blinked once, then twice, looking over the dinner party guests and the victim of said murder, knife still sticking out of their back.  
  
"Toooold you." Hitoshi said, looking over the six guests. Well, five guests and the maid. White, Red, Turquoise, Purple, Green, and Yellow. Jack Rabbit sighed. Alright, so Mister Quiz was right! It is just Cluedo, but! It appeared to be using some rather interesting takes on the characters, just the same.  
  
"We really going to do this, Midoriya...?" Quiz asked the green wearing hero in training. Jack Rabbit gave a short laugh, before turning to his comrade in the purple sequined tuxedo, his widest, brightest grin on his face.  
  
"Of course! We're heroes, after all!" He looked over the gathered suspects. Aizawa-sensei had recommended that the green haired, green eyed young man learn two important skills, to make use of his own amazing analysis talents. Profiling and cold reading, picking up what he could from a quick viewing of body language, style of dress, even things that they thought were hidden and innocuous.  
  
The Maid in white. Serving girl to the victim, but... the smudge in her make-up, it's not a happy relationship. The medical bracelet on her wrist... it's not like she had a choice! The way she fidgeted. Ergo, the victim of this most horrid murder was an abusive employer, but how far did he take it?  
  
The traditionalist in green. It was such an odd thing to see, a man dressed like it was the late Shogunate era. He wore his hair long and he was clean shaven. The hero spotted a few threads to take into account. One was the hidden weapon he carried upon him, the bulge of a jitte handle! The ultranational traditionalist!  
  
The blue wearing matriarch, the stern look on her face, but also the slight blush... the shine of silver in her purse. An alcoholic woman of the older generation? A head of house hold, a well to do house hold! Their weakness would be most unbecoming!  
  
The befuddled looking man in purple. Smart, but naive. Jittery, too much caffeine, not enough sleep. The purple silk tie had a pin signifying his alma mater, the prestigious Tokyo Institute of Technology. He was young and bookish, but there was an air of ambition.  
  
The woman in red... young, well dressed. A hungry gleam in her eyes. Someone chasing the the power of money, to set themselves up for life. Expensive clothing, expensive jewelry, but most definitely nothing she bought herself.  
  
And finally, the JDSF officer, with the yellow dress shirt. Where do you even start with him? He was tense, almost at attention, like he wasn't used to be around civilians, but trying to hide it. But there it was... a single a award out of place.  
  
Yes, these for lack of a better word were all of Jack Rabbit's spies and informants. Everything about these six was laid bare. Their relationship with the deceased, their dark secret, and why they would want them dead.  
  
The Abused Servant. The Ultranationalist Militant. The Drunken Matriarch. The Plagiarizing Professor. The Debt driven Debutante. The False Colonel. Each of their secrets was known by Doctor Kuro, now who was it that went and did the most dastardly deed!  
  
As Jack Rabbit stood in the middle of the room, chin in hand with his eyes closed, deep in thought, Mister Quiz... Hitoshi Shinso... took a seat next to the red wearing suspect. "Hi." He started, nice and simple.  
  
"Shouldn't you be helping your friend? That's what heroes do? Someone killed that poor man..." The woman was at least attempting to seem distraught.  
  
"He's taking this waaaaay to seriously. So, you and the doctor. How long has he known about your affair?" Hitoshi asked. She looked shocked.  
  
"W... what?" She asked, confused at what the young hero in training was insinuating.  
  
"I'm gonna guess he found out who bought you all those nice, expensive things. A businessman? Politician? Doesn't matter, but the good doctor found out and he told you, but you only talked via email or text, right?" He was grinning, ear to ear. "Feel free to not answer me, of course. That's the whole point. All six of you wanted this man dead. Don't deny it." He stood up, letting Izuku continue to do his... whatever he's doing.  
  
"However... I doubt any of you actually ever met the man, face to face. Ergo! The deceased was killed by Doctor Kuro proper, who still has the black mail material he has already collected, upon each an every single one of you. The Ultranationalist militant, bent on starting a coup de tat, but really it's just an excuse to kill yourself, like the samurai you want to be. The fake colonel, running off of his brother's glory. The professor, who plagiarized every paper he published. The gold digging harlot, with several powerful men wrapped around her finger, but wouldn't think twice of cutting her loose if word got out. The matriarch of a powerful family, lost to her own vices and slowly losing everything that makes their family even worth anything in this day and age."  
  
Hitoshi rounded on the maid. "And you went for it, you and he did." He jerked his head to the corpse. "Until your boss killed him. What is he? Lover? Brother? Close friend? You both agreed to it, not knowing that your boss was going to go and murder the poor sap?"  
  
He was still grinning as he sat down again, crossing was knee over the other and had the largest shit eating grin anyone could ever hold. "Free feel to tell me if I'm wrong." As soon as Hitoshi started talking, even Izuku was looking over him, as Hitoshi took the wind out of the other hero in training's sails.  
  
His face fell as there was a ding. They had passed the test. "But... I... it was..." His steps were heavy as they walked out. Sure, they passed, but he didn't get a chance to present his case. He too had come to the conclusion that each one wanted them dead, but the fact that the body in question wasn't the real Doctor Kuro never occurred to him at all!  
  
"Don't worry, Midoriya. Tell ya what, I'll let you take lead next time! And uh... you know... maybe we'll do one I hadn't done yet today?" He clapped Midoriya on the shoulder, before sauntering off, hands clasped behind his back and whistling.  
  
"... ... ... oh god dammit!" Izuku sighed. He didn't feel like much of a hero, as he followed after Hitoshi. He should've expected something like this. But oh well! They had all day! There was still plenty of chances to show off his own analytical expertise! "Fine then, Shinso! But you're choosing next one!"  
  
Let's see him figure out which would be their next mission-slash-test! "Already got it covered, Midoriya!" He passed over the slip.  
  
"'A hero must sometimes do community service. You and your partner will be volunteering at a kindergarten class.'" He looked up at Hitoshi. "Babysitting? Why babysitting?"  
  
"Because it's easy and I'm still taking my breather. How hard could watching a bunch of six year olds be?"  
  
How hard in deed.


	77. Issue 70

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue 70  
  
The sun started to sink towards the horizon line, as the testing was starting to wrap up. A whole 12 hours to do various tests, seeing how they were in their development in Action, Engagement, Greatness, Investigation, and Search & Rescue. The longer the day progressed, the more that some of the students were starting to see a pattern. That what they were being graded on, wasn't what they were being tested for.  
  
Of course, figuring that out with only a few hours left to go, meant a lot of students were scrambling to finish those last tests that could be done to prop up their grades. Others, who discovered the nature of the tests earlier weren't as rushing around, trying to get a better score in their weaker Focuses.  
  
Still others, had already passed and were cheering on their friends and comrades! The most important thing, sometimes, was trying to maintain good morale for the rest. But alas, with the turning of the inevitable hand of fate... it was 6pm! The test... was over! Pencils down, turn in your reports.  
  
It was a long line of costume teenagers, only a few had already passed and were able to already accept their provisional licensing.  
  
"Thank you for Participating in the AEGIS Provisional Hero Licensing Exam. Congratulations are for those who passed! May this be the first step in a long, storied career in the service of justice. To those that have failed, fear not! For there is a lesson in every setback. Take what you learned here, and apply it to the next exam, in three months."  
  
With that announcement, testing was truly over and it was time for them to receive their grading and in some cases, licenses. A spider graph was included, showing how they ranked each each of the five focuses, as well as a few notes on the tests they took and observations of their behavior during the tests.  
  
Izuku met up with the rest of his friends. He had managed to pass, which he was very happy about. His two greatest scores were big, fat 99s in Greatness and Engagement, followed by a big ol' 80 in Investigation, but he only managed to get 60s in Action and Search & Rescue. The thing that really put him over the top, was watching over those six year olds.  
  
He looked over to Hitoshi, who was with him for that. He still had a 1000 yard stare. "The horror..." The purple haired teen whispered. "... the horror." Hitoshi had also passed, a large Congratulations was on his spider graph, but his notes and observation were a bit larger then his own.  
  
Speaking of observations, looking through his own, Izuku saw that there were some penalties applied to his Search & Rescue score. 'Jack Rabbit, while enthusiastic in all things heroic, appears to have an extreme disregard for his own safety, preferring to sacrifice himself for others. While an admirable trait, it is this proctor's opinion that Jack Rabbit is falling into the Life Saver's Dilemma. A Hero that finds himself in the hospital, or morgue, saves no one.' He didn't have such a behavior problem, did he?  
  
He saw Ochako, Minoru, and Denki approach. "How'd you guys do? Did you all pass?" He asked, noting that all three were smiling.  
  
"Of course we did, Midoriya! Didn't you know? We're super cool super heroes now!" Minoru said, striking what he was calling his cool guy pose, stating the need to make use of it as Dark Wine. Izuku didn't have the heart to tell the little guy that he wasn't sure if Aphid and Dark Wine were ever going to team up ever again, and would prefer if his friends didn't do the vigilante thing.  
  
And no, he didn't think it was hypocritical at all!  
  
"I did alright..." Ochako said, and with a sigh showed off her own spider graph. In fact, that's all she had... she didn't have a few pages detailing what flaws and observations that the proctors made. And even more then that, she had a 75 in each of the five focuses. Actually, scratch that, she did have one notation from a proctor, praising her for her ability to take leadership in several situations, managing to direct not only the two she was normally partnered with (Grape Juice and Chargebolt) but able to direct civilians and other heroes that join in after the fact.  
  
"Wow, Uraraka! You did great! I think you got best overall!" Izuku congratulated his friend, who just seemed to blush and retreat a bit, holding up her hands.  
  
"I didn't do anything different that anyone else wouldn't or didn't do!" She said, in her own... oddly self-deprecating defense.  
  
"Don't be so hard on yourself, Uraraka! You did great! You managed to keep Mineta and myself in line!" Denki said, in his own congratulatory way!  
  
"Yeah, you managed to do a great job! If I got anything remotely like that, I'd be over the moon!" Minoru agree, nodding enthusiastically. Then all three noticed Hitoshi, his blanker then usual stare and his mumbling.  
  
"The horror... it was on the walls... it was on the ceiling..." He gave an involuntary shudder. "The horror!" Everyone looked over to Izuku.  
  
"He... he passed, but... the last test we ended up taking was... we were babysitting actual kindergartners." Izuku had his own shudder.  
  
"... how bad could that be...?" Minoru asked, as Izuku turned his head to look at the purple headed teen, a twitch at the corner of his right eye. As he remembered what happened earlier.  
  
Hitoshi and himself were running down the corridor. The pitter patter of tiny feet behind him, like the beating of war drums.  
  
"Don't look back, Midoriya! They can sense fear!" Hitoshi called forward. Sure, Izuku was out pacing him, but that wasn't unusual. They were still ahead, as they rounded a corner, but Hitoshi took it too sharply and ended up slipping and sliding into the wall. Izuku rounded on him, to help him to his feet, but then it happened.  
  
They came bursting out of a door to the side and over the walls! A horde of little monsters! "GO! Leave me, Midoriya!" Hitoshi shouted, as they converged on the tuxedo wearing Teen! "Just... tell my parents I'm sorry!"  
  
"HITOSHI!" Izuku cried out, as his friend sank beneath the tide of six year old super powered tots! Just before he vanished, the purple haired hero in training had one thing to say.  
  
"FLY YOU FOOL!" And with that, he was taken... and Izuku ran as fast as he could. He was snapped back to reality quickly enough.  
  
"... it went... worse then expected." And that's all that Izuku would say about it.  
  
"Salutations, fellow heroes!" Tenya Iida came across the group. He actually... looked happy for the first time in a long time. His spider graph showed that he did very well in Search & Rescue with more then a perfect 100, he actually had 101! It turned out that in some cases, if the Proctors thought you went beyond the course of the test, you would be awarded extra points. The limit wasn't 100, but in fact... 105.  
  
"How'd you get a 101 in Search & Rescue?" That was the question for the ages! And when asked, Tenya's eyes went dark.  
  
"... if you don't want to talk about it, you don't have too." Ochako said, trying to change the subject. Tenya sighed, and adjusted his glasses.  
  
"No, it's fine. It's more then fine. Apparently some of the tests were..." He paused, thinking about it. "Some of the tests were graded on not just rescuing the hostage, but rescuing the hostage taker. Apparently I was one of the few to do just that."  
  
"Hmmm..." Izuku was scratching his chin in thought. It did make sense. If the hostage taker themselves was a desperate person on hard times. ... oh, that would explain a lot of things, but! "Good on you, Iida! If anyone deserves it, it'd be you!"  
  
Not long after, Itsuka Kendo came running up. She too had passed, but she couldn't stay, apparently Neito Monoma did not in fact pass, and someone needed to be the adult in 1-B and try to control him, as he cursed the world and he wasn't taking their assessment of his personality and behavior well at all.  
  
Speaking of personality and behavior assessment, the group saw Eijiro Kirishima, Mina Ashido, and Katsuki Bakugo walking by. Eijiro seemed to be reading from a phone book thick document.  
  
"Geeze, Bakubro, these guys got your number good." Eijiro said, reading aloud from the veritable tome. "'Ground Zero ironically suffers from Intermittent Explosive Disorder. While his desires to be a hero are admirable, it is this proctor's recommendation that he seeks professional help.' I didn't realize they had a term for it. Oh, here too! 'Subjects Inferiority Complex seems to be the driving force behind 20% of his actions. It is not enough that he is good, he must be better then others.'" It sounded like they really had Katsuki's number.  
  
"They don't know a damn thing! I passed, didn't I?" Katsuki had his hands in his pockets, grumbling.  
  
"Well, you did, but there's like a dozen asterisks for your license." Mina said, looking over Eijiro's shoulder.  
  
"Not like the two of you can talk! They said that you quit too early!" Katsuki shouted to the other two. "At least I didn't check out as soon as got the bare minimum!"  
  
"Ah, Bakubro... you didn't manage to get the bare minimum until like... twenty minutes before the tests were over." Mina said, as the three walked away.  
  
Minoru and Denki watched the three walk away.  
  
"Talk about trouble in paradise." Denki said, nodding.  
  
"Tell me about it." Minoru replied, as the two fist bumped.  
  
Still, with that said and done, it was time for Team Midoriya to depart the testing facilities! It was decided that they'd grab something to eat, but at the last moment, Izuku had to back out, having received a text from one Mei Hatsume.  
  
"Rain check, guys! Tell you what, I'll grab some milk shakes on the way back to the dorm and we'll split them while discussing our ratings." And he ran off into the twilight. What could his girlfriend possibly want at this hour that she couldn't do back at Alliance Heights?


	78. Issue 71

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue 71  
  
"You know, Tick, you're not so bad." The Rabbit Hero, Mirko said as she walked along the streets of some fair city in Japan. True, she first thought that the Wild Blue Yonder, the Big Blue Bug of Justice was... an annoying mad man incapable of any kind of intelligent thought, especially with his nicknames. Gigantigal, Treeman, and... Royal Rabbit, but the fact was... the Tick was super strong and super durable and super heroic!  
  
It was inspiring, really. Who cared what some talking heads on the television thought? Thinking that the Tick was the source of all of Japan's woes recently! What a crock! And who cared if the new Number 1 Hero of All Japan didn't like the Tick! Endeavor wasn't the Symbol of Peace and no way did the Flame Hero have it in him to be the new Symbol of Peace at that!  
  
"Thank you! You're not so bad yourself! All of you!" He used a sweeping gesture, encompassing Mirko, Mt. Lady, and Kamui Woods. "And more importantly, thank you. In this hour of need, this kind of cooperation is paramount!" The Tick, for all his madness and derangement, only spoke the truth. This was exactly what the nation needed to see, heroes on the streets, heroes working together!  
  
"At least there is some silver lining to all this nonsense." Mt. Lady said. The bright side to the loss of the one of the greatest heroes in the whole world! The Silver Lining to the Storm Cloud that was hanging over Japan. "The Triggermen are scattered to the four corners, a majority of the League of Villains have been captured, and... there's new cooperation on an international scale!"  
  
Bright side. Silver lining. Figuring out what good had come out of the Horror in Kamino, yet they didn't eve have the win of All for One being dealt with, once and for all. As they were at the Horror, the professionals at UA explained to them what really happened and did nothing to make the three feel any better.  
  
The Terror was in Japan!  
  
"Too true, my titanic friend! But Chairface Chippendale himself managed to escape! And as long as my arch-nemesis is still out there, I, the Tick! Shall be there to stop him at every turn of the corner!" The Tick puffed out his chest, hands on his hips, and looked like the heroic figure he truly was.  
  
"Not that I mean to interrupt." Kamui Woods started. "But you seem to have a lot of those."  
  
"I'm not sure I get what you mean?"  
  
"Arch-nemeses. You talk about them all the time. Chairface. El Seed. The Breadmaster. Pineapple Pokopo. ... Endeavor." He ticked off each one as he talked.  
  
"Ha! You're young, my arboreal ally! But you can tell a lot about a superhero by two main metrics! His friends... and his enemies! Every good superhero needs three or four arch-nemeses! That way, life is never dull! And there's always something for you to do!" The Tick explained in his own, special way. The Japanese heroes were... skeptical, but it wasn't a bad way to take the measure of a man.  
  
"That's... an interesting way of looking at it, Tick. Not one I would have used myself, to be honest..." Kamui Woods started. What else could he say about that? That he agreed with it? Only barely, only basically! He caught Mt. Lady's glance, she seemed just as skeptical as he was.  
  
"I like it!" Mirko slapped a fist into her hand. "If you have a surplus of villains to fight, you'll always have a good fight ahead of you! I... I don't understand how you can not have an army of sidekicks and other impressionable youth! This wisdom of yours... it must be spread!" Of course the punch and kick happy Rabbit Hero would appreciate the Tick's philosophy, as she too was a punch now, punch later, and punch some more style hero!  
  
"Hey, tell ya what! To celebrate my being at 100%... anyone want some coffee?" The Tick asked, as they passed a diner. Coffee did sound good, and it would give them a chance to chat about those other, tertiary parts of the hero life style.  
  
"So... the kid that was with you... Aphid... how's he doing?" Kamui Woods finally got around to asking, the four sitting at the counter. It wasn't so bad! The Tick seemed to be in his element. Perhaps it was different in America.  
  
"Aphid? The lad is doing fine! Keeping up his grades in school, even though I don't believe in this whole... Super Power Prep School thing he's going too." The Tick picked up a steaming mug of coffee, blowing the wisping vapor off.  
  
"... you don't believe in hero courses?" Of all the things that Mt. Lady had heard about the Tick, this was probably the strangest. On the other hand, it did make a lot of sense that the Tick himself never had a formal hero education.  
  
"Are you kidding? Do you think that I, the TICK! Went to some fancy super power prep school? Please! I had the best teacher anyone could ask for in this line of work! Lived experience!" He shrugged. "But the lad wanted to go to that UA place, and let me tell you!"  
  
The Tick looked around. "... actually, you think you three could keep a secret...? One hero to another?"

* * *

The League of Villains... was running on tough times. Sure, most of the hired help, as Chairface referred to the low rank, lowly villains were rounded up with the destruction of their base of operations in Kamino, they were down to only a few members of Mr. Compress' Vanguard Action Squad as he called it and Chairface's own Triggermen.  
  
Speaking of which...  
  
"I don't know, Henderson... I don't think I like playing poker with youse..." The Forehead, the Deadly Nose, and Headless Henderson were playing cards at a table in a corner of the safe house the League of Villains were staying at. They were joined by Twice and Mange, two of Compress' crew that managed to get while the getting was good when Kamino went tits up, as well as Breadmaster's assistant, Buttery Pat. "Youse never told me youse had an unreadable poker face..."  
  
"AH HAHAHAHA! I WIN! I WIN!" Twice suddenly exclaimed. "Behold! ALL RED!"  
  
"I told youse, Twice, the first time! Youse need more then..." And the Forehead watched as Twice laid his cards down. All red, yes. All hearts, yes. All royals, yes. "Aaaaah, sonuvabitch. All of'a sudden, I ain't feel like cards no more..." Everyone else through their cards in disgust as the not all there super villain gathered up all the winnings.  
  
In a loft, over looking the main floor, the main leadership of the League of Villains, such as it was, were discussing the next leg of their plan. Already Tomura Shigaraki had taken the reigns of the League. Right now, they were keeping their heads down. Using whatever resources they had left to stay in hiding.  
  
The fact was, the change that happened to society was palpable. The Symbol of Peace was no more! Other villains were crawling out of the woodwork. Small time and petty, but it was a start to something new, something different. Perhaps... perhaps those empty platitudes of a change in society... there was something to it now... something that Tomura could focus on, could work with.  
  
But first...  
  
"What do you mean you don't think they're a good fit for the League?" Tomura asked, as he paused the video. "Look at him! He's making a mockery of those heroes!"  
  
"That's the point, Shigaraki! Look at him! Look at this so-called Gentle Criminal! He... is a satirist!" Chairface said, as he paced around. "He's not challenging society, he's pointing out it's flaws! Quite frankly... it's absolutely brilliant and that he's stuck doing stupid videos on the internet is the greatest miscarriage of justice on the planet right now! But... he is not a villain. Not like you, not like Breadmaster. Nor is he a criminal, like myself or Compress."  
  
He pointed at the video. "That man... is a hero wearing a black hat." He straightened his tie, before putting his hands behind his back. "So no, I do not think that Gentle and La Brava would be a good fit for the League."  
  
Tomura looked at Chairface impassively. The man, as usual made a good point and honestly keeping him around as a consigliere was a good move. His understanding of the nuances of the criminal underworld suited the League just fine. But as it was...  
  
"We're between a rock and a hard place, Chairface. We're down to what? A dozen members? Dwindling resources. If we're going to press our advantage right now, that being that All Might no longer is even taken into the equation of Hero vs. Villain, we'll need an army. We no longer have access to the Noumus, especially with the destruction in Kamino, especially with the death of Sensei." He looked over the various gathered villains and the underlings down belong. "What would you have me do instead? Perhaps I should take out an ad in the classifieds?"  
  
There was a brief pause. Tomura tilted his head. This... his statement was meant as a joke, but if they managed to word the ad correctly, put in the right language, then maybe...!  
  
"You know what... I think that's exactly what I'm going to do!"

* * *

"I look and feel ridiculous." Spinner said, wearing a trench coat and wide brimmed fedora. He was walking alongside Dabi, the normally burned man wearing make up to hide his horrific burns. They had to do a few errands, it was best to run them at night, especially with them having broken Stain out of prison.  
  
"Spinner... you wear poorly constructed Stain cosplay normally. This is an infinite step up." Was Dabi's reply. Between the three of them, they had almost exactly enough money to get food for all three of them. Sure, Stain suggested about moving into the wilderness and living off of wild game, but that wouldn't suit them to go under ground right now.  
  
No, it was better for them to strike while the iron was hot! When Endeavor wouldn't expect it! Still, the Hero Killer was busy studying their current prey, understanding his daily routines and when best to strike. How best to strike.  
  
"Whatever. I still think it'd be better to expose Endeavor as the monster he is. Really, die a hero? After all the shit he's done?" Spinner had his hands in the pockets of his coat, and grumbled. Endeavor, was by all means, a piece of shit and deserved to rot in a jail cell. Then again, it was odd that Dabi had such insider information, but Stain wasn't going to push it, so Spinner wasn't either.  
  
"Do you understand how much damage that would cause to the entirety of the country? All Might is no more. You think finding out that new Number 1 hero is a monster of the worst sort would be any better?" Dabi shook his head. "No, no, no. This... it's better this way. He'll be dead, I'll be happy, and his family would have some relief from... everything."  
  
"Yeah, about that... why do you care so much about Endeavor's family? I remember you pushing me so I wouldn't hurt Endeavor's kid, but you were more then willing to roast Ingenium's kid brother." Spinner... really wasn't sure what to think of Dabi's double standards, but the more he thought about it, the more things started to piece together. Started to make sense.  
  
Pieces of a puzzle were falling into place, and he was on the cusp of a discovery that would rock his world to it's very core! Interrupted from his thoughts as Dabi placed an arm in front of him.  
  
"Oh, no... not again..." Dabi muttered, and Spinner saw why. One half of the Wild Wild Pussycats were in the crowd, in costume at that. Pixie-Bob and Ragdoll, wandering around in the area.  
  
"Man... this is like the fourth time your girlfriend has stumbled upon us." Spinner said, sighing. "Do us all a favor, take her out on a really bad date and have really awkward, awful sex with her and then she'll leave us alone when she finds out that you're bad in bed."  
  
"... it has been a while..." There was a pause, as Dabi frowned and slapped Spinner on the back. "NO! Stop that! She's not my girlfriend! And my performance in the bedroom is none of your business!"  
  
"Or you could always go for it. I mean, she isn't bad looking..."  
  
"She isn't... NO! NO! NO! We are not having this conversation... again! We'll just come back when they're not hanging around. They can't stick around forever, right?" Dabi pushed Spinner down an alley, they needed to sneak down a storm drain, again. But who said the life of a vigilante was glamorous?

* * *

"So you wanted to see where the magic happens, eh Mister Overhaul? Well here it is! This is where I produce my artificial quirks!" The Terror was showing off his lab, the one place that Kai Chisaki had yet to be in this... partnership he had with the True Symbol of Evil. "Right here, we do the absolute impossible!"  
  
The monster in the shape of a man grabbed a handful of vials off the counter. "Look at it! The same quirk, that'd give your buddy's Strong Shoulder a run for it's money! Can you imagine having ten enforcers with this quirk? Pity it only lasts 24 hours!"  
  
"I still don't see why you wish to work with me. Distribution of your drug that isn't a drug, artificial quirks, all of this?" Kai was feeling braver today then he usually did when dealing with the eccentric ego-mania of the Terror, and finally spoke his mind.  
  
"Oh, Kai... tell me how you really feel! About quirks." The man smiled, his teeth a dull gold as he placed the vials back down. "Oh, don't bother. I already know. You think quirks... are a disease. And let me tell you, as the foremost expert on quirks, believe it or not, you are correct in the most literal way."  
  
... what...!?  
  
"Oh, I see that look in your face. I know what the means. How can he possibly say something like that!? People think the glow Chinese baby was the first quirk, and they're right, but they're wrong. They were the first quirk in a new born, but people all over the world were developing super powers simultaneously! Oh, those first thirty years..." The Terror closed his eyes, running his hands down his cheek, letting out a content sigh. "Good times, good times! ... where was I?"  
  
"... quirks being a disease...?" Kai was dumbfounded. His disdain for quirks was based on the fact that out and out villainy replaced traditional criminality, but... he never realized he could have been correct!  
  
"Right! Yes! Quirks are a disease unlike any other! And I have my theories, nothing concrete, but I'm almost 300 years old, I got nothin' but time!" He slapped Kai on the shoulder. "Maybe one of these days, if I'm ever feeling it, maybe I'll tell you about the rat that got away. I'm sure you'll enjoy it immensely!"


	79. Annual 6

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Annual 6  
  
He had been waiting for the last ten minutes, pacing around . Something was up, but the what? Izuku wasn't entirely sure, as a million billion scenarios ran through his head. It was a text from Mei, true, but... perhaps... maybe she was breaking up with him... he had spent so much time focusing on his heroics and that few weeks after the Horror in Kamino, they barely went on any dates or saw each other, but they were chatting every night for hours! There had to be signs that he was missing...!  
  
"... Hatsume didn't put you up to this, did she? And what are you muttering about?" Izuku was stopped in his worrying revelry, to look and saw Shoto Todoroki. "I knew she wouldn't have asked me about the Ignite set up, so did she put you up to this...?"  
  
"I... what? No. She asked to meet me here too, I was just..."  
  
"Worried that she's breaking up with you? I heard. You really need to stop mumbling, Midoriya." He really did. And it seemed so weird that Mei would have asked Shoto to talk with her as well. Still... this was... a bit of a unique opportunity.  
  
"So... how was your day at the Exams?" They hadn't had a chance to talk since the whole discussion where Izuku, Kyoka, and Momo found about about the truth of the Todoroki Househous, that it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows.  
  
"I managed to get my license, that's all that matters, doesn't it?" Shoto replied.  
  
"Well, yes, but they gave some good... insights in where we were weak, though! Anything you're... willing to share?" Izuku asked, a small grin on his face. He liked being friendly, it was the natural disposition of people. You had to actively act like a jerk, even as it slowly fell, as Shoto was leaning against the lampost, arms crossed, as he regarded Izuku cooly.  
  
"Midoriya, I like to think we're friends. We've bonded, and I've shared things with you that I never thought I would with anyone else." He sighed, shrugging. "What's one more, I guess? I ran into one the students from Shiketsu..."  
  
"Katsuki mentioned the same. Some second year that got under his skin, though, it doesn't take much to get on his nerves."  
  
"I've noticed, but unlike Bakugo, I've met him before. Inasa Yoarashi was at the Entrance Exam for the Recommended Students at UA. He got the top score, then told them that he didn't feel like going if the likes of me would." Shoto frowned. "He said the son of Endeavor... had no place in heroics."  
  
"Did... did he explain what he meant?" Izuku asked, as he saw how the memory of such a statement was effecting his friend.  
  
"He said my eyes were cold and hateful, when we first met."  
  
"... uh... Todoroki, you do remember that the first day of school, you told all of us that you weren't interested in making friends, right?" That may not have been the right thing to say, as the scarred teen looked like he was ready to bore a hole into Izuku with his gaze alone. "But you've certainly improved! I mean, we are friends! You even said as much!"  
  
Situation, successfully diffused!  
  
"Todoroki... I... I want you to know that you're not your father." Izuku needed to say something.  
  
"I know that!"  
  
"That's..." Izuku sighed. "Okay, so I have my own little dark secret, I didn't have a happy home life either."  
  
"Yes, your father was killed in front of you." Was Shoto's cool reply.  
  
"... uh... what? How... when did you figure that out...?" Izuku was more confused then anything. He didn't like talking about it, keep it buried and locked away and it wouldn't cause him pain.  
  
"Before the Sports Festival. I may have done some research into possible opponents. I must admit, for a while I thought you might have been All Might's son, but all evidence points to the contrary." Izuku stared at Shoto, before he took a deep breath.  
  
"Right, so... the thing is, when I was ten, I was still in counseling and group therapy wasn't just me, there were other kids there, obviously." He had to pick and choose his words carefully. "Some of them were abused, too. By siblings, by parents, by aunts and uncles. I know you said that Endeavor never... struck you, but you're not him. You're better."  
  
The impassive look on the other young man's face didn't change, so Izuku tried for a different tactic.  
  
"I think you have the right to be happy, Todoroki. And you know that Yaoyorozu thinks so, too. All I'm saying, is that you have the right to be happy, but the only one stopping it, is you." Izuku said, closed his eyes, and waited for the incoming iceberg. He cracked an eye open when nothing happened.  
  
"Midoriya... thank you." Was all Shoto said. "Anyway, I think I'm going back to the dorms, maybe Hatsume did this on purpose."  
  
As soon as the son of Endeavor decided to leave... there was sound, a tearing noise that attracted the attention of both trainee heroes! And standing before them was...  
  
"Awww, jeeze, I'm late! Damn it!" ... ... ... Izuku didn't know what to say, but Shoto leaned over to him.  
  
"Did Hatsume's mother use her phone to text us?" Shoto asked, as they both stared gobsmacked at the woman before them. She was tall, she was wearing a jumpsuit, and if they had to guess her age, probably in her late 20s.  
  
"Her... her mom doesn't look like that." She had pink hair... and yellow eyes, with quite noticeable cross-hairs, that were currently rolling.  
  
"Ugh. I forgot how dumb you were as a teenager..." The woman said. "Anyway, neither here nor there. You two, need to come with me. If you don't... TENYA IIDA WILL DIE!"  
  
Both of them continued to look at her, dumbfounded.  
  
"... what the hell is going on!?" Izuku wasn't one to sear, normally, but now... now was a great time to start. The woman sighed, and clapped a hand to her chest.  
  
"I'm Mei Hatsume, from about 20 years in the future, and I need the two of you to come with me to save Tenya or, among other things, a paradox will happen that will wipe the universe as we know it away." The woman... Mei? Explained. But not very well! Shoto was skeptical. Izuku... well, he'd be lying if this was the strangest thing to happen to him in the last two years.  
  
"Say we believe you... and I'm not saying I do! Let's say I believe you, how are we supposed to save Iida? What's going on? How is he in trouble?" Izuku asked. He had to take this calmly, seriously, even.  
  
"Sure, I get it. You're skeptical. That's good. Okay, so a few days ago, we were talking... that is, me and future you, about this right now. About how after the Provisional License exam, I... that is future me, which is actually present me, showed up and told you that you needed to rescue Tenya Iida." The two looked at her.  
  
Time travel. Causality loops. All sorts of nonsense that made Izuku's head hurt.  
  
"I..." Shoto started. "I refuse to believe that you have a time machine."  
  
"It's not my time machine." And she put a hand on each of their shoulder's and soon... everything went white and when it cleared... they weren't back on the street! They were... somewhere else.  
  
"What...?" Izuku looked around. It wasn't just himself and Shoto and... strangely alluring adult Mei, but several other people.  
  
"Let me introduce you to some of my friends, Izuku." Mei said, as she went around. "Here, we have Leonardo da Vinci." She motioned to an old man with a long beard and long hair. "George Washington Carver." The man next to him was dark skinned, in an antique looking suit. "Benjamin Franklin." ... ... ... okay, this was getting weird now. "Johannes Gutenberg and Thomas Edison."  
  
... ... ... none of this was making sense.  
  
"Lemme take over forra this, Miss Mei!" The so called Leonardo da Vinci said, as he approached the two heroes in training. "A while-a back, a villain known as the Mother offa Invention, we..." he motioned to himself and the other geniuses. "Were the kidnapped by said villain. They hadda this nefarious plan, to destroy the Renaissance so they coulda invent everything that we woulda. Thankfully, they were-a defeated."  
  
... ... ... this was still silly. Shoto was about ready to call this quits, and ask to be taken back to the dorms.  
  
"... defeated by who!?" Izuku was more excited about the story of good triumphing over evil, about a hero saving not just the day, but all of human history!  
  
"I'mma so glad you asked! It was none other then the Tick that saved the whole offa History! You see, only the Tick anna his nigh invulnerability wassa enough to stop the Mother offa Invention's TIME BOMB!" The original Renaissance man nodded, stroking his flowing beard. "However, I managed to-a reverse engineer the Time Bomb in the passed, anna created a new time machine, so I canna meet up witha my new found friends." He gestured to the other geniuses. "After a while, we decided that the besta way to use thissa technology wassa making sure certain events inna the time stream go all according to plan. Time travel issa no laughing matter."  
  
... Shoto wasn't sure what to think, when Edison pulled out a hearing horn. "WHAT!?"  
  
"He was telling the Occidentals about how we all met!" Franklin yelled at the inventor of the light bulb. Shoto turned back to the adult Mei.  
  
"Alright, so I'm willing to give this... fever dream the benefit of the doubt. What does this have to do with Midoriya and myself?" The faster this was done the better was Shoto's concern.  
  
"Fair enough. So, Hosu City. You two and Iida were facing against Stain and his two cronies at the time. Tenya pops a vial of Trigger, attacks Stain, and then T-abi..." That was an odd lilt to the way she pronounced Dabi's name, but the two heroes just filed it away for later, as Mei went into a coughing fit to cover her slip up. "Anyway, Dabi goes and tries to scorch Tenya, except his life was saved when he was encased in Ice."  
  
"Yeah, but it wasn't Todoroki that did it. There had to be another person with an ice quirk in that alley, right?" Izuku said, looking at the adult Mei. "No... no, that... it can't be."  
  
"Are you saying that I saved Iida... months after the fact, because Midoriya told you about it a few days ago from your perspective that after the provisional license exam, you from the future showed up to take us back to a few months ago during the fight in that alley in Hosu to save Iida from being burned to death by Dabi." Shoto summed up the situation rather well, his face impassive and his voice flat.  
  
"... that's about the gist of it, yes." Was Mei's reply. Shoto sighed.  
  
"Okay."  
  
"Really, you're actually buying this, Todoroki?" Izuku was surprised. He figured that Mei, from the future or not, had any reason to lie and... maybe the Tick was rubbing off on him, but Mei's... Genius Time Commando friends did make a good argument.  
  
"I'm pretty sure I'm passed out on the street at this point, so there's no reason not to do what your... I'm going to assume wife at this point is asking." Shoto replied.  
  
"Excellent!" Mei slapped a fist into her hand. "Let's do this!"  
  
And once again... Izuku and Shoto were surrounded by a white flash and when the light died down, they were deep in the shadows of that alley in Hosu City, months ago. They could see themselves, fighting Spinner and Dabi and Stain. They could see that Tenya had just taken his dose of Trigger, his mutated quirk super charging him as he charged the Hero Killer!  
  
It was easier to see his movements, now that they weren't in the middle of the fight. The sloppiness of his movements, his blood shot eyes. It wasn't hard to see how even with his newly improved super speed, how Stain could get the drop on him... pierce his shoulder and use his quirk on him.  
  
"My, my, my! I was wrong about you." The Hero Killer was lording over the fallen hero in training. "Revenge and drugs. You're no hero at all! Dabi! REMOVE THIS FAKER!"  
  
Shoto didn't have much time... he had to be quick, but he had to wait to the last moment, as he summoned his ice, surrounding Tenya Iida just as the blue cremating flames engulfed him.  
  
And just like that, it was done.  
  
They watched as they themselves finished off the villains. As the Shoto and Izuku of the past discussed what could have happened, who could have saved Tenya Iida.  
  
Shoto noted with some Irony as he watched the version of himself in the past explained to the Izuku, also in the past, that he couldn't have possibly have saved Tenya. Yet here he was, having just rescued Tenya Iida from certain death. There was another flash of white light and...  
  
Izuku and Shoto were back on the street they were before, with the Adult Mei from the future.  
  
"Looks like this is where we part ways. Pity I never thought about picking on you before now. I could tease you about all the cute babies we made! See ya, Izuku..." She looked over to Shoto. "And you too, Todoroki. And hey, Yaomomo really cares about you, strike while the iron is hot." And with another strange, tearing noise and flash of white light, the Mei from the future... was gone.  
  
"..." Shoto was blinking, turning to the madly blushing Izuku. "Did that really just happen...?"  
  
"I... honestly, Todoroki? Since I first met the Tick? I'm not even sure if this works it's way into the Top 10 of unbelievable things I ever saw." He sighed. "C'mon, I promised the rest of the dorm milkshakes when I came back. I'll even get one for you and Yaoyorozu to split."  
  
Izuku took off, Shoto sighed... and decided to follow after the other teen.


	80. The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA: SPOOOOOOON! Holiday Special: The Malignant, Merry Mayhem of... MULTIPLE SANTA!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas!

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA: SPOOOOOOON! Holiday Special: The Malignant, Merry Mayhem of... MULTIPLE SANTA!  
  
They marched through the streets, unimpeded by the vehicles. The heroes, heroes in training, interns, and sidekicks were scattering. They were up against a veritable army, marching in lock step. It was a grim sight.  
  
"HO HO HO HO! HO HO HO HO! HO HO HO HO!" ... well, save for the fact that the army was dressed like Santa Claus. And couldn't actually speak.  
  
"Alright, Midoriya..." Katsuki Bakugo... Ground Zero, looked over to Izuku Midoriya, Jack Rabbit, and scowled. "I don't know how your loser squad did this, but I know it's your fault!"  
  
"Oh, yeah. Totally my fault. I'm the one to blame for the Kringle Army marching down the streets, beating people up, and stealing everything!" Izuku looked over to his... what do they call themselves now? Rival? Yeah, he went with that. He looked over to his rival, an incredulous look on his face. They were currently hiding behind a dumpster in an ally, as the columns continued to march down the street.  
  
"This is not how I wanted to spend my holiday, Midoriya!" He had plans, damn it! Plans that did not include facing down... whatever the hell these things were. They weren't people, you couldn't talk to them, all they replied with was HO HO HO. But someone created them and they...  
  
... it was like dealing with the mook from a Sentai series, or a clone in some ninja flick. Hit them in the right spot and they'd poof away in a cloud.  
  
"Katsuki! It's childish that you're blaming me for ruining Christmas!" Izuku may have... said a bit too loud, as a few of the Santas spotted them. Katsuki looked at Izuku, frowning before popped the collar on his bomber jacket (because of course he would wear one), then he charged into battle with...  
  
... the Santa Clones. Izuku sighed, pulled up his hood, adjusted his jacket, and tightened his scarf. If they'll fight evil Santas in the snow, then that's just how he's going to spend his holiday.  
  
Higher up, a few blocks away, the Commander of this Claus Coterie was over looking his army. It was another Santa Claus, completely identical to his soldiers marching up and down the streets and sidewalks of fair Mustafu, save for the large M on his coat.  
  
"Look upon my works, ye mighty! And despair!" The man said, chortling to himself!  
  
"You know Ozymandias was forgotten by everyone, right? That's the whole point of the poem! It's hubristic!" The young man, Denki Kaminari, had his jacket tightly closed and was wearing a hooded coat on top of that.  
  
"Who was talking to you, anyway, kid? You're just here to make more of my soldiers! You got a jillion volts of electricity! Just what I need to create more and more of my merry malcontents!" The man laughed again. "So says... MULTIPLE SANTA!"  
  
Earlier that day, it was looking to be a normal lead up to the holidays. Not too cold, not too snowy, and class 1-A were passing the hat around for a small banquent in the dorms on Christmas Eve. And even better, Rikido was going to make cookies!  
  
And believe it or not... even Katsuki Bakugo was completely tolerable during the holidays, wearing the ugliest sweater anyone had ever seen (it had featured explosions, of course) and whistling some classic Christmas Standard while he decorated the common room.  
  
"I don't get it. I really don't get it. Bakugo is normally a hard ass during the year, but now..." Minoru Mineta was confused. Super confused.  
  
"Katsuki really loves Christmas. I don't know why or how, but he really loves Christmas." Izuku replied. "Honestly, it's the only time he's actually... nice."  
  
Truly it was disturbing and uncomfortable to see Katsuki Bakugo to be so damn domestic. He had already put up a tree, then put on it lights and decorations. Then proceeded to put garland all around the place, hung stockings, and was enjoying himself.  
  
"... I didn't realize that Bakubro was such a great singer!" Eijiro was surprised, as he and Mina were sitting on the couch, watching as their shared paramour continued his decorations, and yes, he sung while he worked.  
  
"I know! You know, this means we have to get him something. And I don't think he's going to take our company." Mina nodded. They needed to do something special for Katsuki. "I just wish we knew someone with a weather manipulation quirk. It'd be nice to have a white Christmas. We could even use our cold weather costumes!" But alas, that didn't seem to be in the cards.  
  
But, the show that was running on the television in the main room, background noise for Katsuki's decoration festivities, was interrupted with an emergency news broadcast! It turned out that a veritable blizzard was sweeping through Mustafu, and they were expecting over four feet of snow!  
  
Until the news caster put a hand to his ear and frowned, before relaying that there was even more breaking news! Apparently a group of criminals were taking advantage of this storm to go around looting. All that they were dressed the same, as dear old Saint Nick.  
  
"... what did he say?" It was the quietest that anyone had ever heard Katsuki speak. "Did he just say what I thought he said? This will not stand! I WILL NOT STAND FOR IT! Midoriya! Get your loser squad suited up! No body but NO BODY is going to besmirch Santa Claus' good name!" He was headed towards his room to prep for himself.  
  
"Katsuki! Santa Claus doesn't exist!" Izuku prompted! A fictional character doesn't need someone to defend it.  
  
"I know that, but what about all the little brats that still believe!? I don't care what you think, I'm gonna save Christmas!"  
  
"It's the middle of a blizzard!"  
  
"If you want to be a fair weather hero, Midoriya, be my guest!" Izuku sighed as he heard Katsuki slam the door behind him. He was making a damn good point, and he wasn't liking it at all, but alas... that was the way it was going to be, it seemed. He sent out a message to his friends, telling them to suit up, because there just wasn't stopping Katsuki...  
  
It was supposed to be easy, get permission from one of the staff, then head out and get the crook that was ruining Christmas. They easily got permission from Toshinori Yagi, the retired All Might, who wished he could go out with them. Because what was a few crooks? It turned out that it was the most difficult ordeal that the Team Midoriya and the Bakusquad would ever have to face in their short history!  
  
But as it was, Katsuki Bakugo, Eijiro Kirishima, Mina Ashido, Izuku Midoriya, Denki Kaminari, and Ochako Uraraka were given permission to by the former Symbol of Peace to take down these crooks that would use the cover of a blizzard to their own nefarious ends! Suiting up in their Winterized costumes, the half dozen heroes went out into the snowstorm to face down the criminals!  
  
They found the trio, looting a home consumer electronics boutique, the one directing the other two.  
  
"HEY!" Katsuki shouted, drawing the attention of the three. "How dare you... HOW DARE YOU! YOU ARE NOT FIT TO WEAR THAT UNIFORM!" The ash blond explosive teen was really passionate about Christmas, go figure! The three turned to him, the one that was in the lead with a great big M on his chest.  
  
"... oh ho? The six of you? Please... don't you know you're out numbered!?" The man's voice was gravely, filled with malice.  
  
"Hey, man!" Denki spoke up, the hood of his outer coat up. "CATCH!" And the hero in training Chargebolt did the one thing that would probably set into motion this NIGHTMARE before Christmas! A bolt of electricity, scintillating in the snow struck the man on the chest, who gave a shout!  
  
And strangely enough... five more Santa burglars popped into existence!  
  
"OOOOOOH YEAH! Alright boys, let's capture that one! SO SAYS! MULTIPLE SANTA!" The fight that followed wasn't exactly what anyone expected. Denki's quirk, electrification, just made more enemies! And Multiple Santa could create more copies of himself just from another source of electricity! Several Santas managed to grab Denki as their leader made his escape with the electric teen!  
  
The rest were too bogged down by the being nearly drowned in bodies to give chase! And already Multiple Santa was already using Denki's quirk to make more duplicates! Before the heroes in training could even understand what was happening, there was a veritable army surrounding them and they had to scatter!  
  
Leading to where we opened, Izuku Midoriya and Katsuki Bakugo, fighting side by side against the YULE TIDE of St. Nickensian Soldiers in the Snow! The only issue is just how much they were out numbered! It literally felt like 100 to 1! The snow was coming down harder, as they managed to catch a breather.  
  
Izuku looked over to Katsuki, noticing how much the blond was shivering. Katsuki never did well with the cold, especially with the way his quirk worked! Izuku slammed his hands together, creating a shock wave sending their foes flying, as he grabbed hold of Katsuki and took a leap of faith to the roof tops! They needed to link up with the other three!  
  
"I don't need your help, Midoriya! I was doing fine!" Katsuki groused, as he held his arms close to his body, shivering.  
  
"Katsuki, you draw in heat to ignite your sweat, since it's cold, the only place the heat is coming from is you." True, Izuku hadn't shared his analysis of Katsuki's quirk, but he had been working on it for the better part of almost four years.  
  
"I know that! I just need to catch my breath!" He was slumped against the retaining wall of the roof. "Where the hell are the others?"  
  
That was a good question. After Denki's ill timed bolt of lightning on the villainous criminal, the group was split apart as the doppelgangers attacked them. Pulling out his phone, he was hoping against hope that he could catch a few of them, if they weren't busy running around avoiding the army marching in the streets.  
  
"When I g-get my h-hands on that shit head, I'm g-g-gonna kick his ass all the w-w-way to the bay! Ffffucker ruin C-c-c-christmas!" Katsuki was shivering so hard he began to stutter. This wasn't good.  
  
"Katsuki... you need to head inside and warm up. You're not in a good place." Izuku couldn't fight the villains, find Denki, and look after Katsuki. Not that the ash blond would ask him too, but he wasn't about to have Katsuki sacrifice himself, especially over something as non-consequential as saving Christmas!  
  
"Ffffffuck you, M-m-m-midoriya! I've never b-b-been better!" Katsuki stated, standing up a bit too quickly before he fell right over. "I m-m-meant to do that!"  
  
Izuku sighed, picked Katsuki up, and hauled him onto his shoulder. He jumped down to streets, managed to find some place warm that Multiple Santa hadn't had his minions loot, and waited for the others to show. Thankfully he didn't have to wait long, as Ochako, Eijiro, and Mina soon showed up, looking a little worse for wear.  
  
Eijiro's turtleneck, for one, was ripped and torn in a few places. "Is that... is that Katsuki? What happened to him?" Both Eijiro and Mina were to Katsuki's side, the pink skinned acid users placing a hand on the blond's forehead, as Katsuki weakly bat it away.  
  
"Eijiro! He's burning up!"  
  
"Katsuki's Quirk... it... it draws heat to ignite his sweat, but since the snow storm is happening... it started to draw heat from himself. The fever is his body trying to warm himself back up." Izuku looked at the other three. "Uraraka, you're coming with me. Kirishima, Ashido... can you make sure Katsuki stays safe?"  
  
"Yeah, we can do it. Don't worry about us." Eijiro said, nodding. But Ochako was looking out of the glass doors.  
  
"... the storm's getting worse. It's almost a complete white out, Midoriya." She sounded a bit unsure. They... they could do it, couldn't they? Izuku sighed, pulling his goggles down.  
  
"Looks like he won't see us coming, at least." He took a few calming breaths, before heading back into the snow and the storm and the cold. If Multiple Santa's... quirk? Let him create copies of himself, and he took Denki to help him with that, there's really only one place that he could be holed up.  
  
The Transmission Tower at the edge of Downtown, that delivered power to all the buildings and shops in the downtown area. That's where he'd be if he had such a quirk with such an... odd set up.  
  
The cold felt like the bite of steel, even through his thermal costume, and jacket, and scarf. It was almost unbearable. A storm that took the area by surprise... a villain taking advantage of the weather to steal whatever he wanted!? And who else was going to take care of it? They asked All Might for permission to just deal with a trio of criminals committing a breaking an entering during a snow storm. Real rookie stuff! There was no way that anyone was going to come check on them without them asking.  
  
Finally, they reached the transmission tower, and he could see that it had a great view of the entire area.  
  
"Hey, Uraraka... you remember how the first Battle Trials went?" Izuku smiled, when he saw Ochako nod enthusiastically. He held out his hand, she slapped it before holding on and he jumped, letting One for All do the rest. They rocketed through the air, higher and higher and higher still! They crested the maintenance deck, and Izuku saw the criminal and Denki! A release of Ochako's quirk from him and fell.  
  
A flip and a spin to his descent and he landed with a perfect three points! Ochako floated down beside him, as the criminal turned to face them.  
  
"What!?" He didn't have time to get another electric shock, a leap carried Izuku forward and he clocked the faux Santa Claus across the face!  
  
"Merry Christmas...!" He cracked as he watched the criminal rise, then fall... unconsciousness taking Multiple Santa in it's embrace. Ochako was already untying Denki. "You alright, Kaminari?"  
  
"I'll live. Little shaken, little cold. And that's your one liner? Just a merry Christmas? C'mon! You can do better then that, Midoriya!" He pulled his hands free and helped Ochako get himself free. Izuku looked over the Downtown area, watching as the Santa clones in the streets started to pop like soap bubbles.  
  
"It felt good in the moment, and I didn't want to just quote a movie or something. Let's go check on Katsuki, then we'll head back to the Dorms." The trek down the tower was slow, but with Ochako's help they managed it. After leaving Multiple Santa hog tied and calling in the cops, they got back to where they left Eijiro and Mina and Katsuki, and Izuku was thankful that neither of them had the idea of having to share body heat with Katsuki to help combat his fever.  
  
The less he thought about that, the better!  
  
But that was when everything went strange, strange in a way that Izuku should have been used too. As the snow finally died down and the clouds parted to reveal a large, bright moon.  
  
"... are those sleigh bells?" Katsuki slurred, and almost as one they all looked up.  
  
"... no way." Eijiro whispered.  
  
"That's... impossible!" Mina echoed.  
  
"... ... ..." Ochako was speechless.  
  
"I don't believe it!" Izuku exclaimed!  
  
"Heh! I always knew he was real!" Katsuki was chuckling, even as he was still feverish, as the six heroes in training... watched as a sleigh, pulled by eight reindeer seemed to streak across the sky. It made sense that Katsuki would see this, given how ill he was feeling. But how did this explain everyone else?  
  
The six kept talking about it, as they made their way back to UA. The snow had finally stopped, so was Multiple Santa.  
  
And more importantly... Christmas was saved!


	81. Issue 72

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue 72  
  
The Shie Hassaikai compound may as well have been haunted, a ghost flitting about the halls. Pale of skin, white of hair, absolutely silent... and one single, solitary horn. Despite being barefoot, she didn't make a sound as she walked down the halls. Kai Chisaki told his men that an attack on Eri was an attack on him and he would treat it as such.  
  
It made for a very, very lonely experience. And an absolutely awful childhood. She was a sad, lonely girl, and not paying any attention at all, as she bumped into one of the others that called the compound home.  
  
Or in this case, visited time and time again.  
  
She recognized him. Of course she did. She was the one that was forced to do that to him and she was worried, upset almost that she would have erased him from history. She never did that before. But a few days afterwards, she was more worried and upset that she didn't erase him at all.  
  
The Terror, such an awful, horrible man looked down to her, a smile parting his lips and she could see his dull, gold teeth. "You lost, Miss Eri? You look a little lost."  
  
"I... I'm fine! I'm... I'm not lost!" She replied a bit too quickly. A bit too loudly. She watched as the man crouched down, getting nearly to eye level with her, and he leaned in closer then she or anyone else would be comfortable with.  
  
"Are you sure? You don't sound like you're sure." The monster in the shape of a man asked. His voice was soft, gravely. It didn't carry well in the corridors, and made him sound like he was gasping for breath every time he spoke. "You want to hear a story, Miss Eri?"  
  
"Uh..." She took a single step back.  
  
"Of course you do!" The man chuckled. "Let me tell you, Miss Eri... about the Rat that got away." What could she possibly do but stay for story time?  
  
_'A long time ago, there was a man with one goal in his life. He saw humanity as weak, as being stifled and coddled by the modern world. Modernity, he figured, was the true enemy of man. The only way to proceed... was to plunge civilization into primordial anarchy and chaos!'_  
  
It was a simple start, to a simple story. Eri didn't understand what any of that had to do with a rat that got away, and what that possibly could imply. But with the man watching her like a hawk as he told his story, she wasn't able to leave, to avoid this.  
  
_'I won't bore you with all the details, but many many many many years ago, this man was on the very cusp of achieving his goal. Sure, he had been dogged at every turn, by great men and women. Who did not see what he could see. The impeding apathy of humanity, and how they would finally die out.'_  
  
He described to her the enemies of this man. Great leaders of the world. Common folk rising above their own blood. A man that claimed to be a god of the Roman Empire of old. The list went on and on and on still! One of the cartoons she watched, when Mister Overhaul wasn't watching, had the hero mention that you could tell the worth of a man by his enemies. And if the Terror's story was valid, the subject was very worthy in deed!  
  
_'Every now and then, he would that some of his enemies would have a peculiarity. They were exposed to chemicals or radioactive material, struck by lightning or industrial accident. They were changed in ways that the man wished to understand. Until he showed up. A man that wasn't a man. A man that could fly, a man that could lift mountains, a man that could take the greatest and savage of blows without tiring.'_  
  
He told her of a war that lasted for a generation, between a man that had seen the truth of the world, and some strange visitor from another planet that adopted Earth as his own. To defend it from the first. That did not do the man at all! There had to be a trump card, something that he could use to his advantage!  
  
_'But the man was undeterred. He would study these powers, these peculiarities, these... quirks. It was simple, really. He would take mice and rats, a bio-engineered flu virus, and via retro-viral genetic recombination, he changed those rats and mice. Some could light themselves on fire, others could zoom around at great speed, but yet one... the most important one. It looked at the man with an all too human hatred behind it's red, beady eyes.'_  
  
The rat was studied, and examined. It could solve puzzles, it could perform math, it could play chess. The more they taught it, the more it learned. It was the most amazing thing, the most important peculiarity. But, it was the hatred it held in it's gaze that caught the man's attention the most!  
  
_'And then one day, the man came back to his lab to find it in ruins. Destroyed. Burned down to the ground like broken dreams. He was on the cusp of figuring out how these powers worked, how these odd quirks he created in this mice and rats and how to apply them to the modern man. To take him back into something pure and clean and simple. But it was only after the fact... he discovered he was missing a test subject. The Rat... that got away. That unique, hate filled specimen!'_  
  
The man didn't put much thought into what had happened, afterwards. Not until almost a year later. A flu epidemic, unlike any that had been seen before or since. Almost a third of the world's populace was affected. Almost 3 billion people! Oddly enough, it wasn't any more deadly then any other flu, it just infected so many people.  
  
_'They called it a miracle that it's lethality was under .0009%! But if only they knew! The man, he ignored it. Honestly, he was rooting for the pathogen! The chaos would become a fire in which they would reforge humanity. But he did keep track of his foes, and quickly enough... he would find that the great men and great women that opposed his vision for a mankind free of society... were so very, very, very peculiar.'_  
  
Super powered individuals, he told her, were as rare as hen's teeth. But then, some time after the flu, they became more and more and more common, until it reached a head. A bursting point where the dam of normalcy finally burst, and a flood of abnormality began.  
  
"And then, in Quing Quing City, in China... a child was born, that was glowing." The Terror finished his tale, his eyes wide and wild. "The rat that got away, was asymptomatic, but still carried the modified flu virus that was used to warp his and his cousins genome. Then it jumped from rats to humans, infected such a large portion of humanity, and changed them. A quirk in their very DNA."  
  
Eri didn't know what to say to the Terror, she barely understood what the story meant, or why he was telling it too her.  
  
"I know what you're thinking, Miss Eri. Why did I tell you this thing, yes? Because, it's important. Great things have small beginnings. If the rat didn't hate the man, it wouldn't have escaped. If it didn't escape, the Glowing Baby wouldn't have been born. And with the advent of quirks, we wouldn't have the good old days almost 200 years ago." He grabbed Eri by the shoulders. "Hate... is a most wonderful thing. It's what makes us human, Miss Eri. It's pure and it's clean and it's simple. Be like the Rat that got away. Look at your tormentor with hate in your eyes, and spit it at him."  
  
He was scaring her. She could feel tears well up in her eyes.  
  
"There is no hero coming for you, here, Miss Eri. The only one that can save you... is you!" He poked her on the nose, ruffled her hair, and gave her a terrible, dull smile, before he stood up and started to walk away.  
  
"... were..." She finally found her voice. "Were you the man in the story? The one that rat hated so much?"  
  
The Terror laughed, a horrible grating sound on her ears. It hurt to hear.  
  
"Would it make you feel better if I lied and said I wasn't?"  
  
No, no it would not.


	82. Issue 73

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue 73  
  
It was the first real class after the provisional licensing. Sure, each one of them got a psych evaluation about their performance, a small novel in Katsuki Bakugo's case. Having their provisional license did mean a few things. They had heard talk from the second and third years in the Hero Course: Since they had their provisional licenses, that meant only one thing! Internships with actual professional heroes!  
  
"Alright, class... settle down!" Aizawa started, as he looked over the young charges that he had to deal with. "First of all, congratulations on getting your provisional hero licenses. Some of you we'll be talking to the staff over AEGIS' psych evaluations, but you can still hold your head high."  
  
There was a rumbling from some of the class. A few of them had... not as flattering evaluations from the premiere hero regulatory organization. Particularly, those that had participated in the Battle Royale, being explained some time after the exam was over that it was a logical ruse, a trap presented to the students. The puzzle, as it were, was to figure out that no one was a villain and that this was to teach them not to go hot off the handle when they came across a disaster.  
  
Some of them weren't very happy to be fooled by the test givers, in such a duplicitous way, but it was what was.  
  
"Moving along, you all have your provisional licenses, meaning that you are recognized as being able to act as heroes on your own right." He placed his hands on his desk, and leaned forward. "That doesn't mean what you think it means, class. You can't just throw on your costume, go out, and beat up muggers. Any act of heroism will need permission from any member of the staff... or! Whichever hero you might Intern with."  
  
Internships. That was the one thing that was on everyone's mind. They would be able to work at a Hero Agency, earn some pocket change, earn some credits as well, and most importantly! Hands on Lived Experience! Though this did lead to an interesting conundrum, how does one get said internship!?  
  
"I know what you're thinking. Interning is an important part to your growth as a professional hero. To be out there, on the streets, working to help people, no matter how small. After the Sports Festival, you all managed to work a week with a professional hero. That was an opportunity presented to you not just to learn, but to build contacts with in the industry for this moment." He let his words settle on the class. Some of the students had better field training weeks then others, but this was the moment to let the other shoe drop. That they needed to build up links in the chain of heroism!  
  
For some, that was easy. Some had long lasting relationships to the heroes they worked with that single week, and others... others were in an entirely different boat.  
  
"And finally, to explain the trials and tribulations you'll face as her student interns, I've requested that some third years come in and talk to you about internships." He motioned to the door. "They've taken some time out of their busy schedules to come and talk to you. They rank among the top of ALL U.A. students..."  
  
The door opened, and in they came.  
  
"They're called the Big Three!"  
  
And in entered Mirio Togata, Nejire Hado, and Tamaki Amajiki. They were bold, the heroism that each held was roiling off them in waves and honestly, there was no way that the mere first years could possibly measure to these three!  
  
Except... Mirio had such a plain face. How could he be such a great hero if he was... that plain? He didn't scream marketable hero, ready for the lime light and giving interviews on talk shows and pictures in magazines and newspapers.  
  
And then Tamaki Amajiki looked out over the students, an intense look that was enough to make the entire class take notice! Now this.. this was hero!  
  
"... ... ... it isn't working, Togata..." Tamaki said, the look of intensity still in his dark eyes. "No matter how hard I try to picture them as potatoes, it only effects their heads... they're still people from the neck down. My mind... is blanking out!  
  
He turned around, and placed his forehead right on the blackboard. "I want to go home."  
  
Well... maybe... maybe being a top student was a bit... rough. Besides, heroes had all kinds of eccentricities, right?  
  
And then there was Nejiro Hado.  
  
"Awww, don't worry Amajiki." She turned to the rest of the class. "What we have here is a big example of chicken-hearted. Anyway..." She rolled on her heels, back and forth, arms behind her back.  
  
"I'm Nejire Hado, and this is Tamaki Amajiki the Chicken. Aizawa-sensei asked us to come here to talk to you about being an intern for a professional hero. But, but, but...!" One moment she was in the front of the class, the next she was right in front of Shoji Mezo. "Hey, that mask you wear... do you have a cold? Is it a fashion statement?"  
  
She didn't let Shoji answer, before she spotted Shoto.  
  
"Oh, hey! You're Todoroki, right? There a reason why you're face is burned?" The fire and ice user narrowed his eyes and began to speak, but once more she was already on another student, Mina Ashido this time.  
  
"Those horns of yours, they real? Can I touch them?" Then on too Tsuyu about her legs, Minoru about his pop off balls, and Ojiro about his tail. It was... very awkward.  
  
"Jeeze, Mineta... she's cute, but I bet if you blew in one ear, you'd hear a whistling sound..." Denki whispered to Minoru, who shrugged.  
  
"Cute's cute, though." Was the purple haired teen's reply.  
  
Aizawa for his part was sitting at his desk, and had his forehead planted firmly on it's surface. "Oh, why would the third years be any different from the first years? They're certainly appropriate for this class, they lack any sort of rationality at all!"  
  
"Don't worry, Eraserhead! I'm the star performer here after all!" The plain faced young man said, slapping a hand against the desk, before turning to the class.  
  
"THE JOURNEY AHEAD!" He started... and waited a moment. The class stared at him, blankly. "That's where you're supposed to say 'Will be full of difficulties', so in that case... you fail. Pretty badly, actually, at getting what this conversation is supposed to be about!"  
  
There was a bunch of murmuring from the class. Could these jokers be the top students in UA?  
  
"Alright, I think I can get it, it's easy to read your faces. You guys have no clue what's going on." His bland, plain face took a serious turn. "The explanation of the internships, which I need remind you aren't actually a requirement, has been left to some third year students, myself and my two friends." He motioned to Tamaki who still had his back to the class, and Nejire who was chatting with another student about their odd quirk.  
  
"You all acquired your provisional licenses not only as first years, but the first to go through the Prestigious AEGIS License Exam. You're all real energetic, aren't you? So... how would you all like to team up... and FIGHT AGAINST ME!?"  
  
You could hear a pin drop.  
  
"The provisional licensing exam they took de-emphasized combat between heroes." Aizawa stated from the lack luster response.  
  
"Ah! I see! Well, this isn't a fight, this is a spar! The only way they could understand the distance between themselves and me... would be feeling it through their bodies." Mirio stated, still smiling.  
  
Aizawa thought about it, that about it some more, then shrugged.  
  
"Do as you like. I'll have Gamma Gymnasium set aside for you all to use." Was the teacher's reply.  
  
The students were't sure what to think. About these strange third year students. The chicken-hearted intense young man, that couldn't talk to a bunch of kids younger then him. The air headed heroine to be that couldn't stand still and kept bouncing from student to student, asking about everything and anything about them that she could get away from them before moving on.  
  
And of course, the plain faced young man that just challenged a class of 21 people to fight against him. How was that going to work? How would that work? Was he that strong and tough? Or was he just crazy?  
  
Still, 1-A wasn't going to leave a challenge unanswered! If he wanted a war, then they were going to give him one!

* * *

So it was that Class 1-A was at Gymnasium Gamma. It was set up specifically to be a challenge for any hero student, but right now there were 21 of them, in their gym uniforms, ready to face the Big Three.  
  
... ... ... or one of them, as only Mirio Togata was in his gym uniform.  
  
"Are you serious about this?" Sero Hanta asked. It was going to be 21 vs 1. Nothing about that was fair. And Mirio was only a year or so older then them!  
  
"I'm dead serious, Hanta! I'm actually a bit excited!" The plain faced young man was stretching, getting himself ready for this fight between titans!  
  
"Togata... you really don't need to do it. You just have to tell them it'll be valuable to be in this condition. They haven't been filled with the same teachings and training as us." Tamaki sighed. "At least make sure none of them have to be sent to Recovery Girl?"  
  
Nejire was currently talking to some of the students, about how rough Mirio had had it in UA, but all of this... it was still insane.  
  
"So..." Eijiro started, as he approached. "All this having to treat us with kid gloves, you think we're just small fry? We've had to face real villains before! And had pros fight along side us, too! I think you'll find the gap between us to be smaller then you think!"  
  
Izuku joined the faux redhead. "Kirishima is right! I think you'll find that we're more then you give us credit!"  
  
"Oh?" Mirio said, smiling! "You all sound confident! Do you all feel this way?" He looked over a sea of bright faces, eyes burning with determination.  
  
"Excellent! Then why don't you all... SHOW ME YOUR MOVES!"  
  
Izuku charged at Mirio, Eijiro following behind him.  
  
"GLADLY!" They both shouted! Only to watch in almost abject horror as the plain faced man's clothing fell off his body and their blows pass through him like he was made of mist. He turned to face them.  
  
"Right to the face, huh? That's some good instincts!" He wasn't paying attention, he couldn't have paid attention... as everyone's long range attacks soon passed through him. And then he vanished!  
  
"Where did he go...!?" Izuku said, looking to Eijiro. And then they heard it, as they looked back and saw as Mirio Togata was among the crowd they had left behind.  
  
"Why don't we start with you long range folks, huh?" It was impossible to follow him, watching the young man fight. He was here, he was there, he was EVERYWHERE! How could anyone be able to...?!  
  
What was 21 students... was soon culled down to a mere 9!  
  
That gap... was further then anyone could possibly think! They were interrupted by Aizawa-sensei.  
  
"I think this is a great opportunity to learn from this. That guy? Mirio Togata? He is the closes to becoming number 1. And that's including the pros!"  
  
No. Way.  
  
That... couldn't be possible. Shouldn't be possible. He was only a student and he was already being primed to take the number 1 spot? How could any of them compare to him as they were now?


	83. Issue 74

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue 74  
  
Izuku Midoriya as soon as he heard Aizawa's statement about how close Mirio was to being Number 1 immediately activated Tension, as far as he could safely play it. Mirio Togata either had a teleporting quirk that let him phase... or a phasing quirk that let him teleport. He could hear one of the others still standing about how the Upperclassman must have been invincible.  
  
Izuku knew otherwise. No one was invincible, even the Tick wasn't invincible!  
  
"No, he's not invincible..." The green haired young man stated. "He's just really strong. There's a trick to how his quirk works!" There was always a trick to how a quirk would work. Izuku had been analyzing quirks since he was a small child. There wasn't... he couldn't be touched when he was phased, but then they couldn't touch him.  
  
But he couldn't count on something like that working, because he wasn't sure if it was an all or nothing endeavor for the plain faced young man. And the last thing he wanted to do was get in the air up and personal with him for it turn out that he was wrong about the quirk!  
  
He was so focused on his own thoughts that he didn't here what the other third year said, Tamaki said about his classmate. That wasn't so important in the long run of things, as his increased perceptions allowed him to tunnel his vision on the blonde upperclassman, watching as he ran.  
  
He wasn't... he was falling as he moved forward. Perhaps that was key to the way Mirio's quirk worked? He'd need more observation, but...  
  
"What's the plan, Midoriya?" He heard Eijiro ask him.  
  
"... he can only hit us when he's unphased, so I think that might be key to attacking...!" Tension was an interesting application of One for All, interesting in how he managed to work his quirk into his nerves and his brain and let it expand his senses. It was a small pop behind him, as he turned and saw Mirio pop up right behind him.  
  
He didn't know enough about the upperclassman's quirk to attack himself. "Everyone, scatter!" The further between each of them, the further he had to travel, as he himself lept back. He didn't want to have to face Mirio in the air, he had no way to change his direction if he was to face him there!  
  
The others listened, as everyone kept their distance, and yet Mirio Togata just smiled as he sank into the ground again. He had to think of a plan, his mind racing at a million miles a second, trying to understand just what they needed to do. The same pop filled his ears, and he turned around.  
  
"Mashirao! Look out!" He called out just a second too late, as the blond martial artist turned to face the Upperclassman only for the Third Year student to take him down, Ojiro's arm passing through Mirio, but Mirio's hand found purchase and left the tailed youth doubled over on the ground.  
  
"That's one!" The plain faced youth said, triumphantly, sinking into the ground for a third time. The more Izuku observed, the more he learned. It wasn't all of nothing, it seemed. Unless that was double fake out. But his observations were starting to come together, watching the man sink into the ground... the big gulp he took...  
  
"Guys! He can't breathe when he phases!" Izuku shouted to his comrades, at least the ones still standing! That was something to work with! It wasn't much, but...  
  
"He can pick what he phases, too!" Tenya was just as observant as Izuku, and probably spotted the same thread that Izuku did when he took out Ojiro! They could do this, but only if they worked together! It still seemed nonsensical that it would take all of them to take down one opponent, but they were a boat on the ocean and Mirio... was standing proud at the peak of Mt. Everest!  
  
The idea of working together quickly became nothing more then a dream, however, as even Sato and Koda tried to do just that when Mirio popped in between but instead of attacking them, he let their blows pass through him, the two striking each other! Was he figuring out what they were planning, as they planned it?  
  
The chuckling, the smiling, the playing with them! Izuku knew it wasn't an insult, this was a point that was being made. Internships weren't something that was required for one's hero education, that was true. But working as an intern turned Mirio Togata from the bottom of the heap of the hero course at UA... into the man closest to being the Number 1 hero!  
  
All Might and the Tick had to go beyond what the Noumu was capable of handling to defeat him, what felt like a billion years ago back at the USJ. Everything seemed to pass through Mirio's body when he phased, but perhaps... he had to know, he had to take a chance, as he placed some of One for All's near limitless power into his Cocoon!  
  
The pop that he was listening for occurred, and he lashed out!  
  
A meaty thwack occurred as Mirio buried his fist onto his cheek, but Izuku was satisfied at the look of surprise on Mirio's face as his own landed on the Upperclassman, their arms crossing each other.  
  
"Grk...! That was unexpected!" Mirio said through gritted teeth, as he pressed harder against the green haired first year.  
  
"NNnnghk! Just one of the things I can do with my quirk... my Cocoon is near impenetrable. Your fist isn't sharp or thin enough to slip through!" Izuku replied. It was going to be the nastiest bruise on his face, but he managed to land a hit.  
  
"I'll be honest, Midoriya... it's been a while since I've been hit like this!" Mirio was still smiling, even as Izuku pressed his own fist. "But it's to be expected from a first year like you!" And just like that, he seemed to vanish as he stopped pressing the attack and phases once more, quickly popping up behind Izuku... circling his waist with his arms, then up and over with that most Ancient Japanese Art of the German Suplex!  
  
It was over rather quickly after that.  
  
The whole class was various forms of bruised, beaten, battered, and absolutely embarrassed. Mirio Togata looked pleased as punch. "Sorry about all that, I'm not so good at taking it easy." That... was an understatement.  
  
"What kind of quirk lets you teleport like that?!?" Mina asked, being one of the so called long range group that was taken out in an instant! "Are you like Todoroki and you have two!?"  
  
The blone upperclassman chuckled heartily. "No, no, no. I only have one quirk. I call it Permeation! It allows me to pass through anything!" He rubbed the bruise on his cheek. "Well, almost anything..."  
  
"So when you were sinking into the ground... that was you falling, wasn't it?" Ochako was starting to figure this out. He was still affected by gravity even while he was... out of phase.  
  
"It was, yes! When I activate my quirk through my whole body, I will actually fall right through the ground. If I turn it off, well... they say nature abhors a vacuum, and it apparently abhors mass overlapping, so it'll spit me right out!" He was smiling, as he explained the ins and outs of his quirk. "By positioning and angling myself, I can pop right out of the ground exactly where I want!"  
  
"That is one hell of a quirk. Teleportation? Phasing? It's almost unstoppable!" Denki stated, still rubbing his arm where he was tied up by the blonde.  
  
"... not as strong as you think. You can't see or hear or breathe, when your phased, can you?" Izuku asked.  
  
"Too true, Midoriya! You're absolutely right! No air will enter my lungs, no sound into my ears, no light upon my retinas! This quirk is only strong... because I worked hard at making it strong, with the experiences I gained working my internship!" He went on to explain that the internships was nothing like they have done before, it was almost like being a side kick. The possibility for life or death situations were there!  
  
"So that's what it comes down to! The opportunity you have presented to you is nothing like we had as first years! It might be terrifying, it might be awe inspiring, but you'll have to take it! So go out there, go beyond! AND PLUS ULTRA!" The man had a voice that could carry, it was less like talking to a high-schooler then it was a pro! Izuku found himself clapping along with his classmates.  
  
Despite the beating they took... it was an eye opening experience! The class started to file out of the gymnasium, but Izuku was stopped by the Big Three.  
  
"Oh, hey! Midoriya... just a quick thing!" Nejire Hado bounced up to him, Tamaki and Mirio following her. "We were wondering..." She started, rocking back and forth on her heels.  
  
"I wouldn't say we..." Tamaki was still behind the other two. He wasn't sure how Mirio and Nejire could be friends with someone... so unlike that. "But yeah. First of all! That a neat trick you did, and I'll have to figure that out some more... it won't work next time."  
  
Life would be far too simple for Izuku if he could count on Cocoon working on Mirio again, but he'll make the effort of not having to fight the other teen again.  
  
"Anyway! Me and Miri were hoping you could get us the Tick's autograph." ... what...? "YOu know, on account of you being Aphid and all?"  
  
"...what..." Now he was confused. How did they... how could they... Neijire slapped his shoulder.  
  
"Don't worry about it, Midoriya! We figured it out... what? A day after the Sports Festival! We thought it'd be cool to try and figure out who the illustrious Aphid is! And it turned out to be you! So that was kinda cool! Of course, the Hunt itself was only opened to first years, so we didn't do anything with it..." She continued on and on, while Mirio continued to converse with Izuku.  
  
"It's why I knew that if someone was going to figure out a way to stop me, it would either be you, the sidekick to that Mad Man in Mustafu... or perhaps Endeavor's son. I'll be honest, I'm actually happy it was you." Mirio paused for a bit. "But seriously? The three of us would really like an autograph from the Tick..."  
  
"I'll... uh... I'll see what I can do." That seemed to be just what the three Upperclassmen wanted to hear and it left Izuku to his thoughts. Who was he going to try and intern with? There was no way that he could make the argument that he was interning with the Tick and... perhaps!

* * *

"What do you mean you don't need an intern?" Izuku was in the common room, talking on his cellphone with the Jet Hero, Gran Torino. It was who he interned with and had helped him develop Tension.  
  
"I'm retired! How many times do I have to tell you and Yagi that I'm too old and grumpy to babysit an intern." Was the Jet Hero's reply to Izuku.  
  
"I don't have as many connections as everyone else, though!"  
  
"Why don't you just intern with the Tick...? You're already his sidekick."  
  
"One, I'm his partner, not his sidekick. Two, he doesn't have an agency and he's technically not licensed in Japan." Both of those points were true, the Tick had never called Izuku his sidekick, ever.  
  
"Then try asking around those heroes that were in Kamino. I'm sure some of them recognize you." That... was a good idea, actually. He might be able to find someone that would take him. "Failing that, I'm sure Yagi has enough connections that he could get you an internship with." But Izuku didn't exactly wanted to go and get All Might's help on this, especially when the man was retired and should start taking his life easy, not worrying about Izuku and the rest of the world.  
  
"Thanks, Torino... I'll look into that." The call was ended and that would have been that... if Izuku didn't notice his text message icon. First it had a 1 in the corner from earlier... then it a had a 2. Then it had 5!  
  
Opening up his SMS messages, he found one from Mei asking if he wanted to get dinner together. Some take out did sound good, and it was still rather warm out, so he quickly replied to that. That sounded like a nice way to spend the evening. Some bad Chinese take out, the overwhelming presence of the most amazing girl in the world, and maybe a movie.  
  
There were worse ways to spend the evening!  
  
The next message chain was a thread.  
  
'HEY!'  
'IZUKU!'  
'You get your license, yet?'  
'Because if you didn't, Imma have to kick your ass!'  
'You're gonna be working for me!'  
  
'Who is this...?' Izuku texted back. He didn't recognize the number and it wasn't anyone in his contacts, but they certainly had an attitude he didn't like.  
  
'Mirko. The Rabbit Hero!'  
'After the Tick told us about you?'  
'I had to call dibs before Takeyame or Nishiya did!'  
  
The Tick... what did the Tick tell Mirko, Mount Lady, and Kamui Woods about related to him?  
  
'Besides, we all know that Yuu just wanted to hitch her star onto All Might's heir to see herself rise!'  
  
Oh... the biggest secret in his life, that only a handful of people actually knew about, including his childhood best friend turned rival whom Izuku had to rescue from one of History's Greatest Villains! In his defense, it was a stressful time and... Katsuki had brought it up since then, which was worrying, actually! But no! That wasn't important, what was was that the Tick told three more.  
  
Wonderful!


	84. Issue 75

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue 75  
  
So this was it. His first day as an intern for an actual registered superhero. And yet... Izuku couldn't help that he was being blackmailed into such a thing. Of course the Tick would have told his... what? Friends? Colleagues? He knew that the Tick was being friendly with Mt. Lady, and Kamui Woods, and apparently Mirko, who claimed him as her intern.  
  
How bad could this be...?  
  
"So... this is your Burrow, huh?" Izuku idly said, as he looked around the agency that Mirko worked in. He almost immediately realized he said something bad.  
  
"... what did you call it?" Mirko seemed to loom over him. Which was weird, as they were almost the exact same height and Izuku took a step back, nervously laughing.  
  
"You.. you're the Rabbit Hero and Rabbits live in Burrows and I thought..." He took another step back and he was against the wall and he was about to die.  
  
"Huh... that's actually pretty good, Midoriya... clever, too." Oh thank goodness! She thought it was funny!  
  
"Anyway, onto more important things! Going over your files... it looks like you're trying to figure out a combat style that uses kicks, huh?"  
  
"Uh, something like that. My quirk enhances strength and your legs are already stronger then your arms by like three times, so I figured I could get more long to medium range out of my kicks and just rely on my usual brawling when I'm up close." Izuku replied, nodding.  
  
"That's what I like to here! Nothing better in the world then a nice, good scrap!" Mirko nodded, appreciating Izuku's preferred fighting style. "But this Internship is going to be real work, you know. It's not going to be fetching coffee or cleaning up!"  
  
She lead him... not quite into a dojo, but it was an open area.  
  
"Alright, show me your kicks, Midoriya. I don't know if you know, but I'm the foremost expert on kicks when it comes to heroes!" She looked proud of herself. Mirko was larger then life, and it was so strange that she got along with the Tick as well as she did. Izuku for his part took a deep breath.  
  
"Alright, so... just so you know... my quirk..."  
  
"You mean All Might's quirk?"  
  
"It's my quirk, too. I'm still trying to get the most out of it." He felt Full Cowl covering him completely. "As it is, and I'm only estimating this, I can use maybe 20... 25 percent of it's near limitless strength without causing severe damage to my body, but..."  
  
He leapt up into the air... and he kicked.  
  
Mirko for her part managed to maintain an air of being unimpressed with the wall of force such a simple action generated. But... Izuku worked alongside the Tick to know when a hero was giddy at a particular cool display of power.  
  
"Alright, you got a good base to work on." She nodded. "Not bad, Midoriya, not bad."  
  
The next hour was Mirko having Izuku go through his paces, seeing if there was any place they could work on. They were similar height and similar weight and most importantly fought in a similar fashion.  
  
Martial arts, other then support gear, was the easiest force multiplier available to super heroes. In the case of Izuku, Mirko, and yes, the Tick, it was brawling. Why bother learning 30 secret poison hand techniques when a punch to the liver will sap away anyone's desire to fight?  
  
The lesson, unfortunately was cut short as Mirko received a call and told Izuku to put his hood up. They were going out in the wild!  
  
"The damnedest thing, really. A building down town... kinda exploded. We're gonna see what happened."

* * *

Kinda exploded, as Mirko put it, was an understatement. The downtown building, some support company that Izuku had never heard of had it's walls cracking and windows blown out and...  
  
"What is that...?" Something was keeping the building standing, but he wasn't sure. They were let through pass the police tape and Izuku... Jack Rabbit... approached the mess. He poked it with his finger and found it to be dense, but... soft. He tore a piece off and his eyes bugged out!  
  
"No way..." He found it tore easily in his hands and there was only one thing left he could do as he took a bite! It was!  
  
"It's bread!" And it was really good bread, too. Light and airy, but dense enough to feel good in one's mouth... and the flavor. This... this is what bread should taste like.  
  
"What...?" Mirko came over and did much the same. "Oh my gosh... what have I been eating in the morning!?"  
  
She let out a wail of existential despair!  
  
"... shouldn't we worry who did this...?" Izuku asked the heroine in distress. She calmed down, stood up, brushed herself, and nodded.  
  
"You're right, Jack Rabbit! Despite the... amazing crumb, airy density, and tasty flavor... a crime is still a crime!" She nodded as she approached one of the police officers. "So what happened?"  
  
"Witness says that the office was closed. Company party down the street for ten thousand billable hours or something. Only guy in the building and he gets a phone call warning him, and I quote, that there is a pan of bread somewhere in the building and it will go off in 5 minutes." The police officer was one that Izuku recognized from the debacle in Hosu.  
  
"I'm guessing it wasn't a lie, huh?" Mirko said, nodding. "Weaponized... bread. Do we know who could do this?"  
  
"No suspects, but once we get to the phone bank, we're going to try and see if we could get a sample of the caller's voice."  
  
But all of this sounded so familiar to Izuku... a tale of the City from the Tick. About one of his many archenemesises!  
  
"... I... I think I know who did this!" He piped up. "An American super-villain by the name of the Breadmaster... but, his crimes were always against..." He trailed off thinking.  
  
"What else did this support company do...?" Izuku asked the officer, hoping that the man would know.  
  
"They recently branched out into non-support items, and released an artificial levener." That was the smoking gun. That was the reason. The Breadmaster was an insane supervillain from America that had a really hate on for anything that changed negatively affected the nature of baking and cooking.  
  
Bread bombing companies that made mass produced, low quality food when he wasn't going after the Tick. Everything was falling into place. If Chairface Chippendale chased the Tick to Japan, why wouldn't the Breadmaster?  
  
It made too much sense!  
  
Still, it was more then the police had to work on and Mirko asked to keep them in the loop in the investigation, as unfortunately, it was time for Izuku to head back to Alliance Heights. And just in time too, as Izuku received a text message from Mei.  
  
She must've been really upset, because it was in all caps!

* * *

He met up with Mei by the dorms. She was fuming. She had her laptop, a tablet, and sheathes of paper surrounding herself. "When I get my hands on this jerk, I'm going to give him what for!"  
  
"You alright, Mei?" Izuku asked. Mei wasn't... normally mean, but she could be moody. All geniuses were, Izuku assumed.  
  
"No I am not! This... this... this JERK! Had the gall to redline my ideas! I was on a forum the last couple nights talking about my designs and plans!"  
  
"Ah, you were humble bragging."  
  
"Hush, you! Anyway, someone re-uploads them and he... he... he HAD THE GALL TO IMPROVE THEM!" She beat her fists on the table. "And not only that, look what he said!"  
  
She brought up the forum post, and their in big bold letters with an obnoxious emoticon were the words causing so much frustration to Mei Hatsume.  
  
"But what else could we expect. You're only a girl, after all." Izuku quoted. "Wow... you're really actually honestly mad, aren't you?  
  
"I'm not mad, Izuku... I'm absolutely LIVID! I'm gonna find out who this guy is and I'm going to ruin his life!"  
  
"Don't you think you're falling into the troll's trap, then?" Izuku sat down across from Mei. "Just take a deep breath and walk away. He's doing this to get a reaction."  
  
Mei looked at Izuku with her yellow eyes. "Izuku, honey, I know what you're trying to do. But I don't want a solution, I want to be mad!"  
  
"You know that's not healthy for you."  
  
"It's cathartic!"  
  
"You'll give yourself an ulcer." And Mei finally stood up.  
  
"How dare you, Izuku! How dare you start making sense and care about me like this!"  
  
"You done?" Izuku asked, unfazed by the outburst.  
  
"Yeah... sorry, this... Charlie here made me so mad! I don't mind that he optimized my designs, but he had to go and be jerk about it! That's what gets me!"  
  
"Who's petty enough to just troll people like that, though?"

* * *

Meanwhile, at the current headquarters of the League of Villains, the Brainchild was currently engaging in his favorite hobby. Trolling people on the internet!  
  
"Do you really think you should do that, Charlie?" Toga was sitting on the desk as Charlie went through another tech forum, driving yet another loser crazy.  
  
"Why should I worry? I'm behind like seven proxies! They can't ban me if they tried! Besides, Tomura isn't as fun to troll any more, especially with him starting to get serious. He doesn't even yell at me when we play Hero Fighter." He almost seemed whimisical. Trolling Tomura just didn't have the same pizzazz as it used too.  
  
"But what if they find out who you are... or where we're at, Charlie?!"  
  
"So what if they do, Himiko? Lemme tell you something. You're far more scarier then anything else out there." Which was true. Sure, Himiko was growing on him, since she stopped threatening to kill him every day, maybe he was being... a good influence.  
  
Well, much as he didn't like the idea of doing good, whatever kept Himiko from cutting out his eyes was a good thing in his book.  
  
"Awww! You're just such the sweetest, Charlie! You really know how to make a girl feel special!" She gave him a kiss on the cheek before heading out. "If Shigaraki asks where I went, just tell him I went out to find someone to staaaaa-aaaab!"  
  
"Sure thing, sweetie!" You learned to ignore the little things when you were in love, Charlie decided.


	85. Issue 76

 The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue 76  
  
"Coded language in the classifieds... I'm honestly impressed that this worked." They were at the meeting spot, Tomura Shigaraki sitting in the back of the limo they managed to procure, sitting across from him was Chairface, who was making quite the efficient consigliere.  
  
"Well, with All Might's retirement, the world is changing. Another... shift in the wind, I think. Crime is on the rise, people aren't scared any more." Tomura found a replacement hand for his costume, but he was still upset that he lost the original. Just another reason to hate that boy in green and to hate Katsuki Bakugo.  
  
"You think this... Overhaul is correct about what he can offer? Quirk erasing bullets...? Seems to good to be true." Chairface did make a good point. Perhaps they were quirk suppressing, but a true quirk erasing bullet? Oh, the damage they could cause. They may not have the best marksmen right now in the League of Villains, but perhaps the Overhaul's Yakuza did instead.  
  
"We'll have to see. Let the man talk." And speak of the Devil and he shall arrive. Overhaul and his toady both wore beaked masks, evocative of medieval European plague doctors.  
  
"Mister Overhaul." Tomura greeted, as the man sat down. The look in his eyes were dead, the true mark of a narcissistic sociopath.  
  
"Mister Shigaraki. I come bearing gifts." Overhaul passed over a case and in side... 10 pistol caliber bullets. "Unfortunately, the process in the creation of the quirk erasing bullets... we can only manufacture them in pistol calibers. These particular rounds are in 9mm. We can do revolver rounds, as well, if that suits you better, but these should run in any 9mm semi-automatic pistol."  
  
"So this is the question I have." Chairface spoke up. "Why? Why side with the League of Villains? This is more then just a business transaction. You want something."  
  
The Yakuza boss turned to the American Gangster, his eyes cold, but the man with the awful mutation quirk didn't budge. "Better men then you have tried to intimidate me, Overhaul."  
  
"Hn. A good question, just the same. Call it... a peace offering. Call it... an insurance policy. Our organization has been... infiltrated by some actors that I don't trust. I need someone to share... my interests. To make my problems, their problems."  
  
"I'll tell you what, Overhaul... if you can get us these rounds as fast as you make them... the League of Villains is a family. We look after our own. You supply us, and we'll make sure your problems become our problems. We'll even buy them from you. Do we have a deal?"  
  
"That suits me just fine."  
  
The deal was struck, as Overhaul and associate left the limo, the vehicle soon driving off.  
  
"You didn't tell them how you made those bullets, Overhaul." Rappa told his boss.  
  
"What? You expected me to humble brag how I torture a little girl every day? Please, I'm not stupid."  
  
"You also didn't tell them about your silent partner."  
  
"... ... ... the less people that know that the Terror is active and worse then ever? That he's currently creating artificial quirks? Have you seen what he's drawing them from? The man in the tube?" Overhaul asked as they got back to their car.  
  
"The man without the face. Yeah. What kind of monster has multiple quirks like that?"  
  
"What kind of monster is the Terror to capture something like that...!?"

* * *

Three days out of the week, that's what Izuku Midoriya had to work... really, what all the provisional license holders had the same schedule. Either after school, during school, before school. It was their choice, but they could only substitute hero classes for Internship credits. No Academic class could be replaced by internship credits.  
  
So it was that Monday afternoon and evening, Wednesday after lunch, and Friday morning, Izuku Midoriya was working with the one and only Rabbit Hero, Mirko. She really did know a lot about kicking and a lot about brawling and honestly, quite a lot on how to get people to like you! Apparently her brash, cocky personality was well liked in the press!  
  
It didn't hurt that she was a good looking super heroine. And Izuku was quickly discovering that he found himself to be a leg man. Go figure.  
  
He entered the lately dubbed Burrow, some time after lunch, finding Mirko to meet him there.  
  
"Excellent! Right on time, Jack Rabbit! Good news! What with the exploding bread pan from a few weeks ago, we think your initial theory was correct, especially after consulting AEGIS and what this... Breadmaster's choice of ingredients for his bread bombs. However! It's time we have a superhero team up!"  
  
"Oh!?" Izuku's face lit up! This was something he had always dreamed about! "... wait, we're not teaming up with the Tick, are we?"  
  
"What? No. Why do you ask!? We only maintain the most professional of relationships!" She wasn't very pointedly not blushing, but she was acting a bit defensive.  
  
"No reason." Izuku replied.  
  
"I got my eyes on you, Midoriya! So don't go and think anything funny!" She took a sigh. "No, see... I'm not exactly the best at this... you know... investigation bit."  
  
"Prefer to just be put in front of villains and beat them up?"  
  
"HELL YEAH I DO!" She pumped her fist! And looked around. "Anyway! Yeah, I'm much better at beatin' villains up then smokin' them out! So! To help you with your investigation skills...!"  
  
"And you're own?" Mirko sighed at Izuku's interruption.  
  
"Yes, and my own... we'll be teaming up with the premier investigative hero in all of Japan! Sir Nighteye!"  
  
Sir Nighteye. That was perfect. Sir Nighteye was one of All Might's sidekicks... in fact, he was actually All Might's only sidekick. Just thinking about the stories and what one could learn as his feet was an opportunity that only came once in a life time...!  
  
"Damnit, Midoriya! You did get it again!" Oh no... he got caught mumbling. He sighed, that meant he had to pay the mumble tax. Good thing his costume had pockets and he pulled out a 50 yen piece. Mirko soon returned with a gallon, wide mouth jar and he dropped the coin in.  
  
"I'm going to need a new jar, Midoriya..." Izuku couldn't help but notice that the jar was almost filled with various coins of various worth. He really did mumble too much.  
  
"Don't worry! Once we break you of that mumbling habit, everything will be copacetic." Mirko looked at the jar. "Though, I wonder what we should spend when we get it full, oh well!"  
  
She put the jar back. "Hood up, Jack Rabbit! Get ready for a team up!"

* * *

Learning at the feet of the master... turned out to be a bust. Yes, Sir Nighteye left an apology, but he did manage to leave a course for the hero and hero in training could follow to help them training. One of his side kicks apologized, but it turned out that the hero and his foresight was being used for an extremely important case.  
  
Said sidekick lead them through said course, and Bubble Girl, bless her heart, followed the teaching aide left for them through thick and thin.  
  
It was not the amazing experience that Izuku expected. Still, Bubble Girl was nice enough.  
  
"Hopefully next time, Sir will be able to help you!" She called out to them as they left.  
  
"Can you imagine that guy! Blowing us off like that! I am so going to punt him through a wall next time I see him!" Mirko was not happy. She wasn't happy about having to learn herself, and she didn't seem the type to enjoy schooling all that much.  
  
"We didn't even get to meet him." Izuku's hood was down and he had his shoulders slumped as she slowly followed behind Mirko. "Could you imagine the stories he had about All Might?"  
  
"Do I need to set up a Fan Boy Jar next to the Mumbling Jar, Midoriya?" Mirko asked him as they walked down the street.  
  
"N-n-no." Izuku quickly replied.  
  
"That's why I thought. Don't worry about it, Midoriya! You managed to score, what? An 80 in your licensing exam with regards to Investigation? That's nothing to sneeze at!" Mirko was trying to cheer her young intern up.  
  
"I did! It'd be nice, I think, to learn from a master, to... you know... see where my intuitive leaps could take me, but... I guess even heroes have schedule conflicts." He paused, deep in thought. "Do you know why Sir Nighteye had to reschedule?"  
  
"Something something Yakuza something something case of the century something something." Was the Rabbit Hero's reply.  
  
"In other words... you didn't pay any attention?"  
  
"Shut up, Midoriya! It was boring, is what it is! If Sir Nighteye wants me to bust some throwback gangsters, I'll help! But all this sneaky tailing people and asking questions... it's just not my cup of tea!" She pumped herself up a bit. "Anyway, enough about that! I still got you for the whole afternoon!"  
  
Izuku let out an involuntary shudder. If Mirko was excited about something, that was good reason to see himself getting kicked around.

* * *

Wednesdays, Izuku discovered, were the days he was starting to like the least. It was the time he was working with Mirko the most and a majority of that time was working on many things. He supposed that Mirko knowing about One for All was a small blessing in disguise, as the Burrow did have training facilities for the Rabbit Hero to put Izuku through his paces.  
  
His body was trained up and they did figure out his limits without the use of his quirk, but the trick was figuring out just how strong he was with his quirk and how to push his limits eve further!  
  
"Your quirk is like a muscle, Midoriya. The more you train with it, the better you'll get at it! That uh... Full Cowl thing, it floods your body with it's power, doesn't it?" The Rabbit Hero had said. "Well... here's what I'm suggesting. I want you... to train with Full Cowl on. The limit you know you're comfortable with and we'll see how your body adjusts!"  
  
Which meant for the the entire afternoon, he had Full Cowl at 25%. He found it to be exhaustive, the power in his body was immense, but it took it's toll and took it greedily. By the end of the day, his body felt like it was battered and bruised and worn out. And then Mirko told him that he should try holding Full Cowl at it's lower levels all the time.  
  
Maybe, maybe. Having all that power on all the time just to get used too it? He could normally handle 10% without worry, without the use of Full Cowl, but... if he went and just spend a whole day at school with Full Cowl at 15%, would his body get used to it? It was something for him to ponder, but this was the first time he held Full Cowl for longer then a few minutes!  
  
Getting back to the school was a bit of a slog, trudging along to not bother his aches and pains any more then they were already. A quick stop at the nurses office and he got both heat and cold packs. Numbing pain and relaxing it away. It lead him to just lounging in the common room of the dorms, enjoying the comfort of the couch.  
  
His mind finally caught up with him, though. The things that Mirko said after they had their little investigation class with Bubble Girl, following Sir Nighteye's teaching guide. The Foresight Hero had to reschedule because he was focusing on the Yakuza. Something about the case of the century. And then it dawned on him.  
  
Trigger was a drug produced by the Terror or his organization. But someone had to distribute it for them, and what better then native gangs that would already be dealing in such crimes? It made too much sense!  
  
"The Yakuza is working with the Terror..." Izuku whispered to himself. As much as he was going to get in trouble... as much as his body complained as he got out of the couch... as much as he really didn't want to, he get back to his room, and flipped over his mattress. Hidden in the box spring was a box containing his Aphid costume.  
  
Jack Rabbit couldn't, in good faith, go after the Yakuza... but the Tick and Aphid? They could do so much more.


	86. Issue 77

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue 77  
  
"So it starts... a chess match between two great minds. Mano a mano... braino a braino. This is good news, Aphid! The knowledge that a hero that worked with the most Illustrious Mighty Man!? Between the three of us, we'll bring down their criminal cohorts and finally finish the Terror off for good!" The Tick exclaimed, as Izuku explained the plan. And what a plan it was!  
  
It made sense in a way, that the Terror's Organization would need assistance is spreading Trigger across the nation, and who would look at the Yakuza? They were a relic of the past, but now? Now they were just that much dangerous, aligning themselves with the Terror.  
  
"It is, but that's just the problem. All my research into Sir Nighteye... it's not like it's going to be with Kamui Woods or Mt. Lady or even Mirko! He's a really serious hero." That was the trick, how was he going ot end up wrangling the Tick in such a way that a would be team up with the Foresight Hero won't end with them getting into trouble... or worse, hurting Sir Nighteye!  
  
"I've worked with plenty of serious heroes before, Aphid! And I can't begin to name one that doesn't absolutely love me!" The Tick replied, nodding along to his own beat. He was the Great Big Blue Bug of Justice! Who couldn't love him?  
  
"What about Caped Wonder?"  
  
"Errr... just the exception that proves the rule..."  
  
"Endeavor?"  
  
"... well, I wouldn't exactly call Captain Flamebeard a hero, you know. He still hasn't taken my advice about smiling, despite being Number 1 right now!"  
  
"Will you at least promise not to challenge Sir Nighteye to single combat...?"  
  
"Only because you asked so nicely." Was the Tick's reply.  
  
"Now, we just have to figure out how we'll find him..." Izuku was pondering, while the Tick laughed mightily!  
  
"Ha! All we need is the guiding light of DESTINY! Follow, lad! SPOOOOOOON!" And he leapt off the roof without nary a second guess. Izuku rubbed the bridge of his nose, but gave chase. There was no way, no how, no possible inkling that this could get them to Sir Nighteye in ANY manner.  
  
Once again, Izuku found himself doubting the absolute power of the Tick and his ability to find that which couldn't... shouldn't be found or possible!  
  
"I don't believe it... how could... how is that even possible?" In less then an hour, the Tick had found where Sir Nighteye was... and the costumed... sidekick? Following him. "Wait a second... I think I recognize his sidekick... he goes to my school... why would he bring an intern to this?"  
  
"That's obviously, isn't it, lad? Learned experience! There's somethings you can't learn without going out into the wilds of this urban jungle and wrestling a leopard to the ground!" None of that made any sense, but that wasn't anything Izuku wasn't used to from the Tick. "Come, Aphid! Let's go introduce ourselves!"  
  
... ... ...?!?  
  
"Wait, what!? No!" Izuku spoke too late, as the Tick took a step off the building. "... and he's gone." He let out a sigh. This too, was to be expected, why bother planning? It just go in the way of the action! He soon followed, because there was nothing he could do about it.  
  
"Saluatations, Commander Specs! I! The MIGHT Tick! Have deigned to assist you in this, one of many battles on our shared war on crime!" His voice bellowed, even as Izuku joined him on the ground. For the most part, Sir Nighteye looked nonplussed and nonchalant. Mirio Togata on the other hand waved at Izuku!  
  
"Hey, Midoriya!" Mirio greeted. For his part, Izuku awkwardly waved back. Their was a tenseness in the air, as the Mad Man of Mustafu and the Foresight Hero were looking at each other. The Tick... the Tick was all smiles in his good guy pose! Sir Nighteye... was just staring at him impassively.  
  
"Uh... so... ummm..." After a few minutes had passed, Mirio and Izuku were talking to each other as the two heroes continued their still standoff, looking like a pair of statues locked in a battle of the wits. "What's with the one million on your costume?"  
  
The young hero in training thought it would be best to break the ice, let Mirio talk while the two heroes were... doing whatever it was they were doing.  
  
"The One Million is a promise... no, an oath! In my career as a hero, I swear to save one million people! I want to be the hero that comes in smiling, that makes others filled with hope! Dare I say it, I want people to see Lemirrion as... THE SYMBOL OF PEACE!" Mirio explained, slamming a fist into his palm  
  
"That's rather admirable, Togata." Izuku was impressed, actually. A million people saved, that almost reminded him of that one video he watched as a child. Again and again and againj. All Might rescuing a thousand people in a single hour! Izuku's goals were the same, he too wanted to be the hero that came in smiling, that would fill others with hope. But he wasn't sure if he wanted to be the Symbol of Peace, that just seemed so...  
  
He was already All Might's chosen successor, but he wasn't sure about bearing that title. Maybe after a decade, but here was Mirio, waiting and ready and willing to be the Number 1 Hero and he wasn't much older then Izuku! He looked back over to the Tick and Sir Nighteye, the two heroes haven't done anything, they hadn't moved, they hadn't said a thing, just locked in the others sight.  
  
"Do you think we should interupt or anything..." Izuku asked Mirio. How long could they hold like that... this was probably the longest that he had ever seen the Tick remain quiet.  
  
And then Sir Nighteye turned to look at Izuku, startling the young man. He was being judged, he felt it. And then it occured to him. Sir Night Eye was the only sidekick that All Might ever had, there was a possibility that Sir Nighteye knew about One for All...!  
  
"So you're the one that Yagi chose." It wasn't a question, it was a statement, a statement that carried a damning accusation. "Tch, against my counsel, I might add."  
  
"Hey, there! No need to be hard on the boy! He may be shrimpy, but it's a poor hero that judges another by the size of his muscles and not the size of his heart!" The Tick exclaimed, sticking up for his young ward! Izuku couldn't help but smile, he could always expect the Tick to stick up for him! The smile turned into a frown when the Tick laid a hand on Sir Nighteye's shoulder and then...  
  
Both of the heroes in training watched as the the tall, painfully thin Foresight hero judo threw the near seven foot tall, multi hundred pound Tick across the street. The man calmly brushed his shoulder. "Apologies. Instinct." Was all he said about that.  
  
The Tick, for his part, didn't seem to have any hard feelings from the garbage, trash, and dumpster that he was laying in. "WOW! That was so COOL!" He got up and brushed the trash of his body and approached the heroes. Sir Nighteye, as was established earlier, appeared nonchalant.  
  
"Dare I ask why the Illustrious Tick and his partner in Vigilantism, Aphid, are doing here?" The Foresight Hero was prim and proper and... okay, Izuku had to admit that he wasn't as cool as some of the other heroes he had met, but he managed to throw the Tick, so he wasn't weak and really, investigation heroes were just as important as the ones that went and hit the bad guys.  
  
"Ah... uhm... hi..." Izuku was nervous, as he spoke up. "So... it turns out that the uhm..."  
  
"The Yakuza investigation, right?" Sir Nighteye finished. "The reason why I had to reschedule our little training meet up."  
  
Izuku was almost in awe, and speechless as the Foresight Hero was able to peg the exact reason why they were there! "Uh... yes, actually. But it's more then that! This afternoon, I figured something out. The Yakuza... they're in a partnership that's threatening all of Japan!" Sir Nighteye only quirked an eyebrow at Izuku's statement.  
  
"Go on." He said. And Izuku swallowed, took a deep breath and told him.  
  
"They're working with the Terror!"  
  
A single heart beat passed. Then another. Then a third. Izuku felt like he was under the gaze of a god as Sir Nighteye looked him over, then turned his head toward the blonde intern. "Mirio, go contact the Agency. We're pulling an all nighter." He then turned to the Tick. "Why don't you give me a moment with the young man. We seem to have much to talk about."  
  
The Tick nodded enthusiastically. "You know what? I saw a coffee shop just down the street! I'll be right back!"  
  
And soon enough, it was just the two of them. Sir Nighteye and Aphid.  
  
"So... you suggested someone else for One for All then me, huh?" Izuku finally asked, when they were finally alone.  
  
"I did, yes. All Might... Yagi... you have to understand, I saw his death, I saw how he would die and I pushed him and I pushed him and I pushed him to find a successor after he defeated All for One six years ago." He shook his head as he began to pace. "I even suggested Mirio. That all he had to do was meet the young man and he would be perfect for One for All, especially with his quirk! But then he chose you."  
  
... that wasn't something All Might had ever told Izuku... that there was someone else hand picked by Sir Nighteye to be his successor. He took another deep breath, and steeled himself. "I think I proved myself to All Might... and I've worked hard to prove to myself that I'm worthy of this legacy!"  
  
Sir Nighteye seemed too loom over him. He was tall, and painfully thin and it made him feel uncomfortable. "In a year I managed to turn Mirio Togata from the bottom of the heap to the best hero in his class. His quirk, Permeation, and the way he uses it, would synergize with One for All. You, on the other hand... it took you what? A year? To even be able to safely use that quirk?"  
  
Izuku frowned, and took a step forward. "Seven months. I think the Tick's right. You're looking at the size of my muscles and not the size of my heart. How could you ever work with All Might?" He shook his head. It did no one any favors if he was angry. "It doesn't matter what you think, Sir Nighteye. I'm going to do All Might proud. Now then..."  
  
"Fine." Sir Nighteye cut him off. "You say that the Terror is working with the Yakuza?"  
  
"Absolutely. The Terror... he's..." He almost bit his tongue. He had to stop thinking that the Terror was alive. The Terror was dead. "His organization, it's the one making Trigger."  
  
The same brow on Sir Nighteye's face arched. "All Might hasn't told you, has he?"  
  
"Told me what?"  
  
"About All for One."  
  
"He told me enough about All for One... that he used the last of his quirk to defeat him during Kamino..." His voice trailed off as he watched Sir Nighteye shake his head.  
  
"Sentimental fool..." Sir Nighteye sighed. "He did defeat All for One, but according to All Might... after the battle was over, when everyone around them were insensate from the power released by his final attack..."  
  
Izuku wasn't stupid. He connected the dots quickly and finally took a step back, the sound of his shoes echoing in the streets, as loud as the felling of an oak tree. "N... no, that's..." It made too much sense, but... if the Terror was still alive and if it was the Terror that had All for One. He felt his breath speed up, as his heart started hammering in his chest, before he steeled himself. He was a super hero!  
  
"Then that means it's even more important that we help you, now!" Izuku said. "If the Terror himself is in Japan, then that means heroes are needed more then ever, even with the League of Villains going underground." He looked over the Foresight Hero, and saw the corners of Sir Nighteye's mouth was pulled into a smile.  
  
"Maybe Yagi was right about you after all, Midoriya. We'll have to see if you actions back your words, but it's now or never. And the Shie Hassakai are no laughing matter."


	87. Issue 78

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue 78  
  
Half-Hot, Half-Cold wasn't technically a fire and ice quirk. True, it allowed Shoto Todoroki to create fire and ice, but it was so much more that. It was an intense temperature manipulation quirk. Using them in conjunction, he could regulate his temperatures, using cold to cool himself off and hot to warm himself up.  
  
However, there were few ways that Shoto could figure out how to get finer and finer control of his heat and cold, his fire and ice. Which is exactly why he decided to ask if Lunch Rush was taking applicants for Internships. It gave him less of a commute to his internship them the others, but he may have made a small mistake.  
  
"... I ... I wasn't aware that when I asked for this Internship, that I was going to actually be working in the kitchen..." Shoto said, as he stood next to Lunch Rush. He was currently wearing rubber soled kitchen shoes, a pair of lightweight checkered pants, chef's coat, and... as he was only in training, as opposed to a full fledged chef, his hat had a small brim, mesh back, and looked like a cap a civilian would wear.  
  
Lunch Rush and his crew started laughing, looking at him.  
  
"Oh, wait! He's serious, guys!" One of the chefs called out. And now they were laughing harder. A motion from Lunch Rush and the laughter stopped.  
  
"Todoroki... this... is the trenches. There are almost 500 students attending UA. That's almost 500 meals for lunch time. And with the change to a boarding school, that's three times a day. Breakfast. Lunch. Dinner. These brave men and women are your comrades in a never ending war of producing nutritious, delicious meals for the students." He swept his arm around, showing of the facility.  
  
"I only wanted to learn finer control of quirk, Lunch Rush." Shoto said, shirking back as he realized just what was happening.  
  
"Oh, and you will. But you're my intern, Todoroki... and by the time this internship is over, if you aren't capable of impressing the Michelin people, I will have failed as a HERO!" He turned to the other so called culinary soldiers. "NOW THEN! We have 500 covers we need to make for LUNCH today!"  
  
"YES, CHEF!"  
  
Shoto was going to be dealing with soups and stir frys, because it was hard to mess up. It did mean that he would be helping with prep, but he was also going to be dealing with actually cooking. He saw as Lunch Rush went to the front of the kitchen, where the orders for lunch were being trickled in from the doors. He grabbed the PA speaker and then...  
  
"SOMAGE!"  
  
"Cinq cent cinquante commandes de beignets au chocolat!" "YES CHEF!"  
"Cinquante commandes de salade d'endives aux legumes printaniers!" "YES CHEF!"  
"Soixant-quinze commandes de poulet frit!" "YES CHEF!"  
"Deux cents commandes de kebab de boeuf!" "YES CHEF!"  
"And finally... cent cinquante commandes de riz frit et cent commandes de sautes de boeuf et de poivron."  
  
Everyone in the kitchen was looking towards Shoto as the final orders were called out.  
  
"Uh... ye... yes chef?" Nothing in his life had prepared him for this. Not the training from his father, not the private tutoring, not the expensive schooling, nothing he had ever been through.  
  
And like that, battle began!  
  
Shoto swallowed. He was unprepared for this. Lunch Rush said he would provide gear, but... even then... He stared at the veritable pile of bell peppers that needed to be prepped and he was the low man on the totem pole. He almost felt like a panic attack was starting, but he swallowed his nerves and pushed his worries aside.  
  
"Hey, wait!" A voice called out to him and almost suddenly, he had Lunch Rush by his side. "I wasn't just going to throw you to the wolves. Let you get a feel for the kitchen first. But! You need to roll up your sleeps. Good sign of a great chef? Filthy apron, but clean sleeves."  
  
Shoto nodded as he did so.  
  
"So, here's how we're going to do it. One of the most important aspects in good cookery, whether it's french, italian, chinese, or even just home cooking, is misen place. Prep work. I know we have you working soups and stir frys, but that's because they're simple enough that a layperson shouldn't be too bad at it. But you'll be doing all the prep work for the stir frys. So I'll show you how to julienne a bell pepper, and once you're done, call for me and we'll get to the next step."  
  
Shoto watched wide eyed as Lunch Rush was capable of splitting and cutting a bell pepper in less then 20 seconds, a pile of match stick sized bell pepper pieces. "Don't worry about speed, slow and purposeful is good, and if you get a cut, please use the bandages provided, they're bright neon green for a reason."  
  
And with that, he demonstrated a few more times, and let Shoto work. He was nervous. Cut off the top and base of the pepper... cut out the whites and rinse out the seeds. Then cut them into match stick sized strips. The pile slowly, but surely shrank, as he went from a pile to bell peppers... to a huge bowl filled with julienne strips.  
  
They were being kept in a salt solution to keep them from going limp and to keep them fresh and once he was done, he called out for Lunch Rush.  
  
"Good job, Todoroki. Now, I need you to go find the tender beef in the fridge." How hard could that be? He was told which shelf it was on and that he'd have to use a cart to bring it back, but seriously? How much hard could this be?  
  
... ... ...  
  
"No way...!" He was looking around the huge walk in fridge and there was rows and rows and rows and rows of fresh food! Fruits, vegetables, meats, and fish! He had to use a lift to get to the right section and ended up getting the almost 100 pounds of tender beef and brought it back out of the fridge.  
  
Prepping that was easy enough, they just had to cut it against the grain into wide strips. It was simple enough! Once he got the hang of it, he was managing to make it! After prepping all that beef and bell peppers, mincing the ginger and onions was actually rather simple! So was prepping for the fried rice! Chopping up green onions, regular onions, shelling and de-veining shrimp, slicing up pre cooked pork, and chopping chicken.  
  
It was... it was actually rather easy, and he found himself in a state of zen he didn't think possible. He did feel bad for the others in the kitchen. He was cheating a little bit, using Half-Cold to keep himself cool as he continued to work, but to be honest... it was very very very hot in the kitchen.  
  
Everything was prepped... and it was time for him to actually cook, lunch was only an hour away! Lunch Rush told him that he'd heat the wok using his quirk, that this was a traditional way of Chinese cooking. Long yao. Get the wok as hot as possible, let it cool just a bit off flame, add the oil, let it shimmer... and get up to medium.  
  
It was... rather extremely easy. Add the ginger and garlic, stir it around until fragrant, then add the bell peppers... stir it around while it cooked, then add the beef. Finish it off with a traditional chinese brown sauce, a mixture of soy sauce, water, and corn starch.  
  
Soon enough, he had the one hundred orders of beef and bell peppers finished and ready to be served up! The fried rice was a bit more difficult, as he had to get everything else friend before adding in the ride, but eventually... he was done. Finished. It was ready to be served out.  
  
"Alright, Todoroki... walk with me. I want to show you how you did. The best way, is touring the clients." The Suppport Hero explained that the cafeteria of UA was like a restaraunt, serving 500 meals, three times a day. Most places would kill to have that kind of full house that often!  
  
And yet, it was as they walked around the tables, Shoto heard a third year ask if anyone had any salt and Shoto could see Lunch Rush twitch as he approached the table.  
  
"Nothing else that you wanted?" Lunch Rush asked the student.  
  
"I'm... I'm sorry?"  
  
"A splash of pozu, perhaps? A bit of ketchup to mix in to the hollandaise, perhaps? It really is no trouble. We could send someone into town. I can get you anything you like to enhance the flavor of your food. Kewpie mayonnaise, salad dressing, pickle relish. You only have to ask. Some Tabasco? Or barbecue sauce? How about a nice packet of cheese and onion crisps to sprinkle over your salad!? We could even order some prawn vindaloo if you want! Or a family sized pack of chicken drum sticks! OR MAYBE! Some beef for two persons with special fried rice and extra weet and sour pork balls if you like! We don't mind going through a it of trouble for our guests here!" He leaned in as he spoke and there was a hush at the table as the third year tried to avoid the gaze of the cooking hero. "SALT!? Do you have any idea of the number of highly skilled man hours over a three day period have gone into producing this dish? Which is presented to you at the absolute zenith of it's powers? Taste, flavor, texture, and temperature at the peak of perfection and then WITHOUT TASTING IT YOU CALL FOR SALT!?"  
  
Shoto realized that the Cooking Hero might actually cause some harm and decided that he would diffuse the situation. "Here you go! Salt as asked for..."  
  
The pro hero that he was interning under looked at him, as did the third year, but Lunch Rush seemed to calm down. "I hate you with a passion few men can dream of..." He looked around and saw that he had caused a scene. "Bon appetit."  
  
They quickly went back to the kitchen, as Lunch Rush went into another rant. Looked like he really took his cooking seriously and honestly he didn't know the Cooking Hero had it in him to just lose it like that.  
  
But... for his first real day for working his internship... Shoto really enjoyed it!


	88. Issue 79

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue 79  
  
The team up of the Tick and Aphid with Sir Nighteye and Lemirrion had absolutely changed the way that Izuku Midoriya viewed the world, shattered the illusion that he had set up. It wasn't just enough that the Terror was around, returned, never died, or however that worked. Honestly, that wasn't that surprising anyway! After a year of tracking down the Trigger manufacture, and discovering that the emblem of the Terror?  
  
... ... ... Izuku wasn't surprised that the Terror was still around, once Sir Nighteye confirmed it. But the thing that bothered him the most, the one that was going to keep him awake for many a night was the one shattering truth that he learned.  
  
All Might had lied to him. About a lot of things, actually. That there was someone else that he was considering to be his successor other then Izuku. That All for One and the original One for All were brothers (he had learned that from his quirk!). And finally, that he had defeated All for One, once and for all at the Horror in Kamino. Izuku had already known about the Terror and his return. He didn't need to lie to the him!  
  
It's why he was hesitant to knock on the door before him. The door into All Might's office on the school campus grounds. He could do this. He could work up the courage to talk to his hero, his mentor, his predecessor. The man that believed in him, that chose him to be the latest in a line of heroism dating back to the birth of quirks.  
  
He had been standing in front of the door for a near hour, working up the courage to knock on the door. There was a cold sweat on his body, his brow soaking... the shirt of his school uniform clinging to his body. Could he do this? Confront All Might about the half truths he told him over the last year or so? Steadying his breath, he reached his hand up and knocked on the door.  
  
Unfortunately, he was following Mirko's advice on keeping up a constant Full Cowl, to get used to the force coursing over and around his body. A simple rap on the door turned into far more forceful then he was expecting, causing the door to open completely off it's hinges. He had the good sense to stammer an apology, as he started to put the door back on, muttering and mumbling his apologies!  
  
There was no reply, and Izuku turned to look over and saw All Might in his emaciated form. Unmoving... eyes closed... mouth hanging open.  
  
Izuku gasped out in fright! It couldn't be! This was too much, he was so full of health just a few day sago, but... it... he steeled himself. This was a possibility that he had always known would happen, especially after the former Number 1 Hero of All Japan finally burned his quirk out!  
  
All Might... WAS DEAD!  
  
... ... ... the existential despair going through the young man was soon dispelled when a loud snore came from the tall, painfully thin man.  
  
"Oh, thank goodness! He's just asleep!" Izuku let out a sigh of relief! He was worried for a brief second, the briefest of seconds. The former hero snored some more, before falling forward, caught himself and looked around.  
  
"I'm awake! I'm awake!" He was wiping his mouth off, and looked around, spotting Izuku. "Ah... Young Midoriya! How might I help you?"  
  
"We need to talk, All Might."  
  
"How many times do I need to tell you, I'm retired. You can call me Yagi..."  
  
"It wouldn't feel appropriate..."  
  
"Fine. What do you want to talk about...?"  
  
"... did Nighteye tell you not to give me One for All?" It was a flat question, an damning accusation if the retired hero had ever heard one.  
  
"Does it matter if he did? I didn't follow his advice. He kept pushing someone else. Said if I just saw him in action... it doesn't matter. A hero isn't measured by the strength of his muscles, but by the strength of his heart." All Might explained.  
  
"I've met the one he wanted you to pick. Mirio Togata... he's... amazing." Izuku said, his voice trailing off. "His quirk is so powerful and he's so good at using it and I can't help but think that if he had One for All...!"  
  
"Stop that, Midoriya." All Might cut him off. "Nighteye and Torino thought I was being sentimental I picked you. I, myself, was quirkless when my predecessor passed One for All to me. I impressed her the same way you impressed me. And perhaps when you pass the torch on, someone with a weak quirk or even quirkless will impress you to receive that amazing gift. Don't second guess your own worthiness, my boy, you've managed to proved yourself, time and time again!"  
  
Izuku had tears in his eyes. Things that were sad didn't bother him anymore, he ran out of tears for those a long time ago, but things that made him happy... made him angry... things that he found relief in... he still found them flowing when those happened. "Thank you, All Might!" He almost felt... upset that about the next thing he was going to talk about.  
  
"Will that be all?"  
  
"N... no." Izuku wiped his eyes and took a deep breath. "Why did you lie to me about the Terror and All for One?" He saw the frown on All Might's face, and saw the man sigh heavily.  
  
"I... I didn't want you to worry, I wanted you to carry on learning how to master One for All, to become the best hero you can be. You don't need to worry about the monsters that go bump in the night, Izuku."  
  
"But... it's the Terror! One for All told me that the Terror inspired All for One...!" He was cut off again.  
  
"I'm sorry, what did you just say...?"  
  
"One for All told me about All for One...?" Izuku felt like he just said something that he really shouldn't have. "The... the Quirk, it explained me when I was in a coma after fighting Muscular... that over the centuries it gain a sort of... consciousness, stockpiling from the previous users. It didn't have a very high opinion of you, sir."  
  
"... the quirk... communicated with you...?"  
  
"Did... did it not do the same for you?" Izuku was nervous.  
  
"It never did, and while I wish to talk about that more, this is distracting us from the problem at hand. Yes, the Terror has captured All for One. I only have the barest of ideas of what the Terror is planning on doing with him." All Might explained. "The Terror told me, while his men packed up All for One... he called him a beautiful repository of quirks."  
  
Izuku let those words settle on him, and his green eyes grew wide. "He's going to strip him of quirks, isn't he? Literal human resources!? I... I... I have to do...!" He was cut off by the blonde man.  
  
"Nothing. You have to do nothing. Professional heroes are working on this while we speak. There's nothing to be worried about. Now... if you're not too busy in the next few days, I want to talk about you and One for All, but right now..." He yawned. "I'm just so tired, young man. I will see you in class."  
  
With that, the former Number 1 Hero of All Japan stood up, and bid Izuku good day. And he looked so old and so haggard. Izuku... decided to let him have his rest. If anyone had earned it, it woudl have been All Might.

* * *

Elsewhere on the UA Campus, at one of the gymnasiums that were open up until Curfew, three students were currently in their gym uniforms. Mina Ashido, Eijiro Kirishima, and Katsuki Bakugo. The pink skinned girl from another world was trying to explain to her... boyfriends? Knights in shining armor? Gosh, what did she call them two!?  
  
She shook her head to clear the revelry running through her mind as she tried to explain the intricacies of the kind of fight that they had on their hands.  
  
"So you have to understand, my uncle is incredibly powerful! All the things I'm capable of doing? He's capable of doing that and much more!" Mina was pacing as she tried to explain just how hard a fight this could be. "And more then that, he's a warrior without peer! While my father was always the one to take over the crown, it was my uncle that went out to conquer worlds and burned empires and...!"  
  
She was cut off by Eijiro. "So... I'm curious about all of this. So this whole... alien princess thing. I can buy it. Just... how big is your... you know. Inheritance if we defeat your evil uncle and you wind up becoming queen...?"  
  
The pink skinned girl thought about it for a moment, then a moment again. "I don't actually know!" She replied with a bright smile. "But don't worry! Earth is too popular to use as a vacation spot for anyone to want to go and conquer it!"  
  
"That doesn't make me feel any better, Mina..." Eijiro replied. Katsuki, for his part, let out a single shout of anger.  
  
"Whatever! I don't care about that! How am I do kick your uncles ass, Mina!?" Katsuki was running various plans through his head on how to take down someone like Mina, but with canny experience and the power to back it up.  
  
"Fair enough. So! People like my uncle are have more control over their acid production, and in fact, he's famous for his Acid Armor. Low solubility, high strength, and almost gelatinous! According to Papa, he saw him shrug off blows from a full sized adult jabberwock!" Mina shivered, just imagining how a man could even take a blow from such a monster.  
  
"I have no idea what that is, Mina!" Katsuki replied back, a fierce anger burning in his eyes.  
  
"It's a giant reptile the size of Tokyo Tower...?" Well then... that put things into perspective.  
  
"Doesn't matter! I'm gonna kick his ass anyway!" His hands and fingers were starting to pop as his quirk responded to his anger.  
  
"Oh... excellent!" Mina clapped her hands together. Maybe this was going to actually work out! They were training hard to face down her uncle and they might end up scoring victory!

* * *

"Are we really do this?" Ochako was nervous. Really nervous. Once again, it was one of Pony's ideas. Dragging her off to do something stupid in a whirlwind highly romantic gesture.  
  
"What's wrong, Ochako?" The blonde asked, they were sitting next to each other, she had a hand on the brunette's bare knee.  
  
"This... all of this. I don't know if I can do it. It's just... Pony, are you sure we're ready for this?" Ochako wasn't sure if this was something they could do, should do. If Aizawa found out about them doing this, they were going to get in trouble.  
  
"Ochako, I've never been more sure about anything in my life! And there's no one I want to do this with more then you!" She slipped an arm around Ochako's shoulder, and kissed her cheek. "Now let's do this!"  
  
She stood up, grabbed a green mask from the counter top and turned around. "How do I look?" She was wearing a brilliant green wrestling costume. She admittedly looked good. Ochako sighed, and did the same. Standing up and slipping on a black and pink mask.  
  
"I don't know how you convinced the JJWA to let us compete." Dive Bomber said, shaking her head, in her own wrestling costume. It was, as Pony's was based on Tree Leaper, her's was based on Dive Bombers.  
  
"They were excited at the idea of two cute vigilantes showing up and causing all merry hell! Besides, this is great quirk practice, too!"  
  
She had to admit, crazy as the American could be, Pony was right!

* * *

The text she receive asked her to come to the cafeteria an hour and a half after dinner was finished, but... Momo Yaoyorozu was always curious about just what was going on, and instead was over an hour early. A text message from Shoto Todoroki wasn't something to sneeze at. They had been... getting close the last few weeks. Since he explained the secret of his family and what a monster that his father could be.  
  
True, he never laid a hand on Shoto, but there was more kinds of abuse in the world other then physical. It made her heart ache for her friend. And yet... he was opening up to her, every day that passed after that, especially after the Preliminary exams. It was like a fire had lit under him, and honestly? Momo wasn't going to complain.  
  
She made her way towards the kitchens, and found Shoto there working. Everyone in 1-A at this point knew that he was interning with Lunch Rush and that the kitchens at UA were starting to turn into a third home for the young man, as he used his flames to slowly and surely temper a pot of chocolate, carefully adding cream to the mix. She could hear him whispering to himself as he used his quirk to keep himself cool, even as he kept the pot hot.  
  
It was actually kind of sweet, with the cute look he had going on in his little apprentice chef outfit he was wearing. The hat was a nice touch, actually!  
  
"Planning on wowing me with dessert, Shoto?" She called out from where she was standing, leaning against the counter. She couldn't help but smile when the young man yelped.  
  
"M...momo! What're you doing here!" He was shocked, confused! He wasn't expecting her for another hour!  
  
"Well, you said you wanted to meet." Was her calm reply.  
  
"I said I wanted to meet in an hour! I just..." He let out a sigh. "It's not just dessert. "  
  
"Oh?" That did pique her interest even further. Sure, she always made sure to eat healthy and the nature of her quirk meant that she had a high caloric intake, but... if there was a quicker path to her good side, she wasn't sure.  
  
"I wanted to make you dinner, Momo. It's... I like this. I like being in the kitchen. I like working with Lunch Rush and his staff and it's just..." He thought about it, needed to figure out his words. "I can't help but wonder if my life had gone different, would I even be a hero?" He shook his head as he turned around to work on a saute he had going.  
  
And then he felt a pair of arms circle around his body and Momo's head next to his. "I don't think there's any reason why you can't enjoy both, Shoto. You can save the day, then feed them afterwards. How many people has Endeavor fed?"  
  
That... was a very good point. "I like the way you think, Momo. I really do."  
  
"Good." Was Momo's reply. And then she kissed him, a peck right at the corner of his mouth. "I look forward to dinner, Shoto. Do you best."  
  
With that said, she sauntered out of the kitchen, and Shoto found himself more driven then he ever was.

* * *

Izuku Midoriya made his way back to the dorms and found himself sitting on a bench in the quad, surrounded by the buildings that made up the rest of the First Year Dorms. The discussion he had with All Might was weighing heavily on his mind. The Terror, All for One, and all the misery that would come from that combination.  
  
He needed something to take his mind off of this.  
  
And as if for once in his life, the Universe responded in a positive way, as Mei Hatsume, the beautiful, bubbly girl that he was dating was approaching and soon sitting next to him.  
  
"Hey, Izuku... you look down, what's up?" She asked, placing an arm around his shoulder.  
  
"It's complicated. I'm not..." He thought for a moment, did he tell her the truth about everything? Everything everything?  
  
Yes, yes he should.  
  
"It's just nerves, Mei. Nothing to worry about. I'm practically a real super hero now!" But he didn't. "So don't worry your cute self for my sake, okay?"  
  
"Alright, Izuku... it's just... I care for you. You're my best friend, my boyfriend... my first friend. I just want you to be happy." She rested her head on Izuku's shoulder.  
  
"Mei... I got you. I'm already happy."


	89. Issue 80

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue 80  
  
The problem with dreams was that the pleasure of the dream was that it was unattainable. True, Enji Todoroki had dreamed about being the Number 1 Hero of All Japan as soon as he hit the Top Ten, but that appeared to be just that, a dream that he couldn't achieve when presented the insurmountable man god that was All Might.  
  
And so he decided to do something else, a change of his plans. If he couldn't be the Number 1 Hero of All Japan, he would be the father of the Next Generation's number 1! Perhaps, in hindsight, he went about the goal in the wrong way. Perhaps instead of bribing Rei's family, he should have courted her, perhaps if there was a genuine affection the fights wouldn't have been so bad.  
  
Perhaps if he didn't push Toya as hard as he did to get his quirk, then proceed to ignore him when all it was was blue flames that burned so hot they were a danger to the young man. Perhaps if he didn't write Natsuo off immediately when his quirk wasn't all that strong.  
  
If. A most damning word for Enji's behavior, the way he should have acted. But he was blinded by ambition and glorious vanity. Ever since All Might's retirement, he had wracked his brain, trying to figure out how he could make this right. The country needed a hero that was a better man then he, but only Endeavor could be the hero to defend the nation.  
  
He remembered the words of the Superian from the Sport's Festival. How angry his words were. About the old injuries that Shoto had from a decade of training. Enji Todoroki never struck his son in anger. True, punishment did include full contact sparring, but the boy had to be used to fighting for his life! Villains wouldn't use kid gloves, nor would his rivals! Why should his father?  
  
Trainaing Shoto lead to arguments with his wife. Perhaps they got too heated, but perhaps was just as damning as if. Rei was strong woman with a strong quirk. She was serene and beautiful and honestly... while he paid and coerched her family, after the first weeks of marriage, he found himself... caring for the woman, coming to love her like a man should his wife.  
  
But it didn't matter. His ambition and his vanity collapsed his marriage when Toya first manifested his quirk and it as just so dangerous. Uncontrollable blue flames. A failure. The young man was liable to burn himself as anything else. Then came Fuyumi, a gentle girl with an ice quirk, but not as powerful as Rei's hailstorm. And even then, her personality wasn't suited to the life of a super hero. Natsuo quirk was the weakest of the bunch, a control over his own body temperature.  
  
He still remembered what he said when he discovered what Natsuo's quirk was. Useless. Perhaps, that word again, it said how much how he had grown because that knowledge filled him with a shame he hadn't before. That he could say that about his own flesh and blood, that he could call a 4 year old that just got his quirk. He should've been proud of Natsuo on that day, but instead said he had no use for the child, his own son.  
  
That he should have been more understanding for Toya. That while his quirk was dangerous, he should have taught him better control, not injure himself so much. Had Enji Todoroki cared about his eldest son, then maybe he wouldn't have run away when he did so. Maybe if he didn't argue with his wife so much, maybe if she didn't push her and push her with the yelling and the screaming... she wouldn't have attacked Shoto.  
  
It was... admitting it was a start. That everything that had happened to his family and too him was his fault. His own doing. His downfall was caused by his hand and his hand alone. And he wasn't sure where he was going to start to make this right. His children hated him... and he was certain his wife wasn't much better. A decade of stewing in a mental hospital, focusing her ire on him.  
  
There was no roadmap on how to even begin to apologize. He sat heavily at his desk, thinking of what he was going to do. In the bottom drawer was a bottle of 18 year old Suntory... a bottle given to him on his wedding day, unopened and undrunk. He was saving it for when Shoto became Number 1, when the boy would realize how much his own rebellion was holding him back.  
  
That day didn't seem to be coming any day soon. He sighed again, only for a knock at the door.  
  
"Endeavor!" It was one of his sidekicks. "We found him. We found the Tick!"  
  
... ... ... well, this day was starting to look up after all.

* * *

He was scrabbling against the ground, his fingers scraping against the pavement of the dark alley. He had to get away, he had to get away! Seeing that big bastard take half of them down without a single flinch was enough to convince him to go back home and apologize to his mother! A life of crime wasn't a life after all!  
  
An explosion in the distance told him all he needed to know about his friends and how they were doing!f In a word? Not very good at all! He made a left then a right and found the source of his doom. A dead end, a brick wall looming over him like a barrier into ancient China! The sound of a foot crushing a glass bottle caused him to turn and an invisible force slammed into him, throwing him against the wall.  
  
"C'mon, man! Please! This was all a mistake...!" He pleaded, begged!  
  
"The only mistake... is letting scum like you back on to the streets!" The voice was gravely, barely contained malice dripping off of each word. "You're the disease, and I'm the cure!"  
  
The man wasn't going to bring him in. That much was obvious! Too obvious! He had to act and act fast! He tried to throw his own quirk at him, but the light show just seemed to annoy him! Annoyed the big man as he picked up over the shoulders.  
  
"This isn't an alley way, bub! This is an operating table... and I'm the surgeon!"  
  
Thankfully... unconsciousness hit him before the big man's knee hit his back. Said big man, in a brown costume rolled his neck, a few pops sounding as he relaxed, the same sneer still on his face.  
  
"One last gutter trash punk!" It was a good day. Chairface knew how to contact him, so did the rest of those bastards. A bunch of clown shoes, that League of Villains, but if they got him to go mano-e-mano once more with the Tick, he'd tolerate them. For now, he was content in spreading some Justice, American Style in this shit hole city he was set up in. Barry Hubris, the Scarlet Tick, let out a shiver.  
  
The Night was still young... there was still punks that had an appointment with the Emergency Room. They didn't know it, but he'd make sure to tell them! With his shield on his back, he went over to his motorcycle when a light shined on him.  
  
"TICK! You're under arrest!" A voice called out. He smiled. Finally, some recognition! He turned to face the speaking. Some local hero... no... not even a hero, just a sidekick and the local police.  
  
"Me? Under arrest? Whatever for!? Don't you know I'm a hero!?" What was it with people not getting with the program and recognizing him as the greatest hero that the city of The City ever knew!?  
  
A beat passed, before he whipped out his shield and took cover as a blast of fire slammed into him!  
  
"Not much of a Number 1 Hero, Endeavor. Going after a fellow keeper of the peace!"  
  
"You're no hero, Barry. You may not be the Tick I want to bring in, but I'll relish a chance to take down a psychopath like you!" Endeavor was unhappy. Barry Hubris was at Hosu City when those monsters showed up and managed to occupy the Tick's time while Endeavor and Manual had to deal with the monsters proper.  
  
"Not a hero!? Compared to these slack jawed wimps, I'm a god damned heroic tyrannosaurus!" He pulled out his shield, the Force Amplification battery nestled in it was fully charged from those scumbags early, and he let it fuel his quirk! A powerful wave of kinetic energy rolled from his shoulder down his arm and out his hands, kicking up the heroes and sidekicks and police and vehicles.  
  
"I put up with enough of this crap back home! Ain't no one got the CHUTZPAH to do what needs to be done!" Fine, let a bunch of would be no name heroes try and get a rise out of him this way! He'll do what needs to be done! No one else on the planet seems to understand that you don't give second chances, you give FUNERALS! He wasn't about to let some soft-hearted sons of bitches take him down without a fight!  
  
As he approached the fallen heroes. A few weeks in traction would learn 'em well to not fuck with the Tick!  
  
He was only stopped by a blast of blue flames, and he brought his shield up to block a pair of swords. "Who the fuck...!?"  
  
It was three of them. One heavily burned... one without a nose... and one was a giant lizard. Barry smirked, a smile that showed his bright, white teeth. This is what he wanted. This is what he needed! A fight to show these lesser heroes how you deal with villains!  
  
Stain the Hero Killer and his two disciples. Spinner and Dabi. He heard about them through the Grapevine, but they were nothing more then a bunch of punks! He leapt out into the fray, but Spinner kept Dabi covered, Dabi's flames kept him back, and Stain... Stain approached him, unflinching!  


"The Scarlet Tick... a hero in name only. Crude, brutal, terribly inefficient..." The Hero Killer shook his head.

"Not like you can talk, No nose! Didn't you use to just wantonly kill criminals?" If Barry hated anything in the world, it was hypocrites and idiots! Stain seemed like he was both!

"I'll be honest, I was never that heroic to start. But most heroes don't have what it takes, to begin with. And you? You're no hero at all!"

"Indeed," Endeavor chimed in. Barry blinked. The Number One Hero of Japan was agreeing with the Hero Killer? "I contacted AEGIS about you after Hosu City, Hubris. You've been on thin ice with them for a long time due to numerous complaints of excessive brutality. But what you did there was the last straw.

"The Tick may be a lunatic and a vigilante, but he was trying to help when the League of Villains attacked, and had the strength to make a difference, at least until you attacked him. A lot of people were hurt that because there was one less person fighting to contain the Nomu than there should have been... because you tried to kill him over a name.

"Barry Hubris, your hero license has officially been revoked. You are now a wanted villain."

"NOOOOO!" Barry screamed, spittle flying from his mouth. "I'm a hero! I'M THE TICK!!!!!" He powered up his shield and charged at the man who dared to strip him of his name and title.

Stain and his two disciples had trained to fight along side each other, together. Three against one were bad odds for the Scarlet Tick.

Three against one that grew as the heroes and side kicks came too to fight along side the hero killer! Even the Number 1 Hero himself! Soon enough... it was too much for Barry, and he was done. Defeated. Captured.

Endeavor looked down on the unconscious form of the fallen hero. It was never pretty when a hero went to the bad, though judging from his file, this one hadn't needed to fall too far to get there.

"Well, that's one false hero down," he heard Dabi say, "Maybe we can take down two in one night?"

"You're ask much of a fake as he was, Endeavor," Spinner accused.

A few months ago, that accusation would have outraged Endeavor. But he had been forced to think about that issue on his own recently.

"You may have a point," He confessed. The two criminals who were preparing themselves to attack paused, taken aback.

"I have been a great crime fighter," He continued. That was no boast, just a matter of public record. "But upon inheriting All Might's title, I've been forced to realize that there is more to being a hero than just defeating criminals. All Might was a symbol and a paragon. I am not. And that may be why so many people regarded him as a greater hero than I for so long.

"Looking back on my life, there are many times I have failed, as a husband, as a father, and as a hero. But just because I am not as great as I once thought I was does not mean that I cannot become so. And if you plan to try to stop me, I will take you down. Not for the glory of recapturing you, not for the heroes you have maimed or crippled for failing to meet your standards, but for all the innocents who were harmed because the heroes you hospitalized could not try to save them!" As he finished, his Hellfire flared, making him appear to be more a force of elemental fury than a man.

Stain's apprentices looked ready to fight him anyway, but the Hero Killer raised his hand. "No. The optics aren't right. Besides, this is the first time I've seen a false hero admit to being a fake. Perhaps an experiment is in order?

"Can a false hero become a true one? You say you want to do it, but I'm curious to see if you really can. Spinner, Dabi, we're leaving. Endeavor's confession has earned him a reprieve. In a year's time, we will return to see if he has become a hero in truth or is still just another faker."

Endeavor's lips curled up in a grin of vicious expectation. "And a year from today, I will be waiting for you, Hero Killer."

With that said, the number 1 Hero of All Japan began to coordinate the heroes and sidekicks. Arrests needed to be made and ambulances directed. The Scarlet Tick's massacre was purely on the criminal class tonight, but to Barry Hubris... a jay walker was a litterer was a speeder was a mugger.

A lot of people were hurt tonight, but at least one menace was pulled off the streets.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A reader on SpaceBattles had a rewrite on Endeavor and Stain talking to each other. I really liked it, so I'm using that. Thank you!


	90. The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA: SPOOOOOON! Volume 1!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> On the SpaceBattle thread for this fic, people have been adding in their own omakes.
> 
> I've collected the 8 of them in this first volume of the Tick vs MY HERO ACADEMIA! SPOOOOOON!
> 
> Enjoy!

The Tick vs MY HERO ACADEMIA! SPOOOOOON!  
  
 **Not like in the movies! By Pinklestia101**  
  
"So... are you sure about this?" Pony asked her friend.  
  
"No, but we have to get better. I mean chewing bubblegum and the earplugs helped but my control of my power can still get better." Ochako answered  
  
"Fine." Pony said and put the baseball throwing machine at max speed.  
  
Tsuyu, the frog girl of class 1-A, hear a high scream from her house.  
  
"Who is playing extreme baseball at this hour, ribbit? Crazy idiots."  
  
After saying that she went back to sleep; between taking care of her siblings and school, she needed all the rest she could get.  
  
****  
  
The idea had been to alter gravity of the baseballs so they didn't hit Ochako.  
  
It was also to help her train her reflexes so she could use her powers better in a fight. And at worst, she would learn to dodge.  
  
But... reality was a hard mistress.  
  
"Ouch, ouchie everything hurts!" Gravity Girl said while full of bruises and barely standing  
  
"I told you we should start slow but nooo, someone here wanted to imitate something she saw in a video. You do know that you actually need a good sence of balance and lots of practice to dodge a lot of baseballs at a fast speed, right?"  
  
"I am sorry, I just... I just feel I am being left behind."  
  
"That's no reason to hurt yourself! I am glad I convinced you that the idea of levitating cars that try to run you over was a bad idea. I know some Quirks can get quite crazy but have gravity manipulation, not whatever the Tick has."  
  
"Okay, let's... Let's just try with you throwing me baseballs without the machine...."  
  
"Not today, you are full of bruises, we need to get your body in a tub full of ice or you will end going to school looking like a big ugly pink and purple thing tomorrow."  
  
"I... I really messed up, didn't I?"  
  
"Yeah, but is okay, we will do better next time." Pony said and smiled to her friend.  
   
 **The Best Diguise is none at all By bissek**  
  
It had taken Yu Takeyama weeks to get this far in her investigation. Since detective work wasn't exactly her strong point, she had tracked the counterfeit hero merchandise ring by means of shameless flirting. Having a Pro Hero - especially a beautiful one in a skintight body suit - walk into a memorabilia store and ask a few coy questions about who made certain items on their shelves generally flustered the store clerks (usually young men) into naming all their suppliers. After a while, the same name started coming up - one she had never heard of doing businesses with any of the Hero Agencies she knew.  
  
With that solid lead, she had been able to identify delivery routes, which had finally lead her to the warehouse she was staking out. Soon, she would be able to take down the counterfeiters and cut off the supply of those nasty, nasty comics people had been making about her.  
  
Kamui Woods' voice came over her radio. "Van coming. Could be our target."  
  
Mount Lady watched the van drive into the warehouse. "Let's give them a couple minutes, then move in. We catch them loading or unloading, and this case is in the bag."  
  
The next few minutes passed slowly. Mount Lady moved around to block the main entrance while Kamui snuck in through a side door. Moments later, a call of "Pro Hero! Nobody move!" rang out. The call was answered by cursing and the sound of weapons fire, followed by the sound of an engine starting up. The van crashed out of the warehouse doors, speeding away in an attempt to escape, when it was suddenly lifted off the ground by the hand of a twenty-meter tall woman.  
  
"Going somewhere?" she asked.  
  
\---  
  
Hours later, the police finished searching the building. The men they had captured all appeared to be just random toughs hired to do a job, not the actual manufacturer's, but the bust had seized enough knockoff action figures, posters, lunchboxes, and other paraphernalia to make it clear that fake merchandising was a far larger criminal enterprise than anyone had ever expected, something that could cause it to rise higher in the police's priority lists. Among the items found was a box full of newly printed comics, among them several copies of the abomination that had set the two heroes to tracking the counterfeiter ring down, Mountain Grove. If only they had found the press that printed them.  
  
"Any leads on their employer?" Mount Lady asked the sergeant supervising the search.  
  
"Nothing useful." He responded, "They only worked through an intermediary. We've gotten a sketch artist to draw a rendition, but we can already tell it's useless."  
  
"Why is that?"  
  
"Take a look". The officer showed her a sketch pad.  
  
"He looks familiar somehow."  
  
"You've probably seen him in an old movie somewhere. Our guy's immediate superior is Peter Lorre, an actor from the 40s. He's been dead for decades. Our guy clearly has some kind of disguise quirk and was playing a joke on everyone."  
  
Mount Lady grimaced. This case was far from over.  
  
\---  
  
Tomura looked at his deformed colleague.  
  
"I hear your counterfeiting ring just took a big hit."  
  
"Only a setback," Chairface scoffed. "Given how low my overhead is, I can replace everything the police seized in under a month."  
  
"But they took some of your delivery men. They could lead the police back to you."  
  
"Only if they knew anything of worth. The best they can do is describe the henchman I sent to give them orders and collect the take. And his appearance won't get anyone local thinking of me and my Triggermen."  
  
"But don't all your men have appearance-altering quirks?"  
  
"That's the beauty of it! The quirk of The Guy Who Looks Just Like Peter Lorre makes him look like a normal man, just one who resembles a long-dead film star. And is it a crime to look like someone else? There are still enough Mr Moto cosplayers in Japan to make him fairly unremarkable, and that's if anyone even thinks that's his actual appearance and not a disguise to mock the authorities."  
  
Tomura stopped to consider that. "I see you have things in hand, then."  
  
Chairface nodded. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to come up with an idea for my artists to use to strike back at the two heroes who raided my warehouse. Using their art to strike the hero's reputation will hurt them far more than merely trying to shoot them, and help recoup my losses."  
  
 **The Justice Sandwich By bissek**  
  
“Justice is a thing of many parts. Just as you cannot make a meal from one ingredient alone, it takes many things to truly bring about justice!  
  
“Justice is large. It encompasses every all those who desire it, like a large sub roll. It matters not if it is white, wheat, or even pumpernickel, so long as there is sufficient bread for all!  
  
“No matter how long ago an act of villainy may have happened, it will be never be forgotten, and will not go unpunished forever. Justice can be cured and carefully preserved like a smoked ham, until the time is right and it is placed on a platter to be served up to an unsuspecting criminal!  
  
“Justice has an edge. For those in need, it can sever the bonds placed upon them by the unrighteous. And to the evil doers, it can cut them down. It is sharp, like a well-aged cheddar!  
  
“Justice can withstand the heat of wickedness. Like a head of romaine lettuce, even if the outer leaves may wilt, the heart of those who truly love justice will stand strong!  
  
“Justice grows in strength as many hands work together to bring it about. Can you taste a single mustard seed? Just barely. But bring together a jar of mustard seeds together, and spread them upon the bread of life, and you will soon find the rich, spicy tanginess of JUSTICE on your tongue!  
  
“When a man’s palate has been scorched by the foulness of villainy, justice comes to sooth it, like a rich, creamy mayonnaise!  
  
“It is only when all the pieces come together that the people can be served a big, tasty, JUSTICE SANDWICH!”  
  
A waiter came out from behind the counter with a large sandwich on a platter. The Tick picked up the sandwich and ceremoniously took a large bite out of it before the eyes of everyone in the diner.  
  
A week later, the lunch menu had a new special added to it  
  
Justice Sandwich: smoked ham, sharp cheddar, romaine lettuce, whole-seed mustard and mayonnaise on a sub roll.  
  
 **Hot and Cold and Glue By Pinklestia101**  
  
It happened a few days after school started.  
  
"Dude, I think you got fangirls." the short kid said to him.  
  
"What?"Shoto asked confused.  
  
"Is the scar and tortured past and that, girls go crazy for guys like you." Some years ago the mention of stuff like his scar would make him angry, but therapy had helped. Wait, did he said tortured past?  
  
"Are you mocking me Mineta?"  
  
"No, I am serious, you got fangirls, honest!"  
  
"Uh... and I am supposed to do something about that?" Is not like no girl had found him attractive before... but not so many at once. And said girls tended to stay away once they meet his father.  
  
"It depends, if you just ignore them, they may keep their distance, but that will make you more atractive to girls and you are likely to get more fangirls. But if you get a girlfriend they might either back off or attack her, is complicated to predict how fangirls will react to their male idol no longer being single." That made sense... wait.. him... an idol?  
  
"You seem to know a lot about this."  
  
"Eh, If I am gonna be a pro hero knowing how to deal with fangirls is a must... and my mother watches way too many teen dramas." At least Mineta seemed to have a good relationship with his mother, unlike himself.  
  
"You mentioned something about a tortured past, how much do you know?"  
  
"I know your dad is an asshole and your mother went crazy because of that. I mean is not like is really a secret in the Hero community." Mineta said with a neutral tone.  
  
"What? Are you saying other heroes know? Then how come no one did anything?"  
  
"Dude your dad has money, a good team of lawyers and influence. He might not be All Might but he is still the number two hero of Japan. But mostly is lack of proof, and his lawyers using your mother... accident with you to blame whatever trauma you and your siblings might have on her."  
  
"So... everyone knows my dad is an asshole?" Shoto asked, confused and somehow... feeling warmer inside, and that wasn't the fire part of his Quirk  
  
"Yes, but if you really wanted you could get a restraining order on him. I am sure the principal would take your side. Heck we have All Might as a teacher, so he can't just bully this school. And they have a better legal staff that he does anyway."  
  
"I... I will think about it. Thanks."  
  
"No problem and... do you mind if I just hang around you or something?"  
  
Shoto raised an eyebrow, well the one he still had. "You just want to see if any of my fangirls might find you attractive by association, right?"  
  
"Well yeah. I am small, short and my Quirk isn't as awesome as yours, I won't probably get a girlfriend on my own merits until I become a pro hero." That was harsh and not untrue, but more because the kid perversion probably keep away girls, besides what other disavantages he might have.  
  
"Fine, is not like I care anyway."  
  
 **Erasing the Tick's Quirk By bissek**  
  
Shouta Aizawa patrolled the rooftops. Despite the hour, there were likely to be plenty of criminals for him to catch, and there was also the blue-suited vigilante that had been spotted in the area over the past few months. A hero's work was never done.  
  
In the distance, he could hear a man who had clearly never heard of the concept of indoor (or after-hours) voices booming out.  
  
"Ninjas, man! NINJAS! I've been wanting to fight ninjas ever since I got here! THREE MONTHS and I haven't seen a single ninja! How could Hollywood lie to like this?"  
  
Curious, he headed towards the sound. If nothing else, he could give a warning about being too loud after dark. When he got there, that the person making the racket was a tall, heavily built man in a blue, antennaed jumpsuit. The vigilante known as The Tick.  
  
"And here I thought I was seeing things, but there it is... the blue vigilante everyone's been talking about." He commented, focusing his eyes on the vigilante. By all reports he had enhanced strength and durability. Best to neutralize them quickly.  
  
"EGADS, APHID!" The vigilante boomed, "Brace yourself, a NINJA APPEARS!  
  
"Be on your guard, for ninjas have many strange and terrible abilities. They can turn invisible. They can kill a man with their index finger."  
  
Aizawa blinked. What on Earth was he talking about?  
  
"They can breathe underwater," Tick continued, "They can dodge bullets at point blank range. They can walk up the sides of buildings. They can even install telephones!"  
  
Aizawa blinked in surprise again. Why would this lunatic think he was a ninja? And what could possibly make him conflate ninjas with utility workers? Last he checked, skill at ninjutsu was hardly a prerequisite for installing a phone line.  
  
Then he realized. The vigilante's bizarre and inane proclamations had made him blink. In doing so, he'd shut off his Quirk, and restored Tick's own. There was a method to the Tick's madness. He relocked his gaze on the vigilante.  
  
The Tick's sidekick tried to get between them.  
  
"Wait, wait, wait! Tick, you can't fight him! He's Eraserhead, the Erasure Hero! He's a pro!"  
  
The boy, at least, had some degree of sense. Perhaps he could get the kid treated lightly if he helped make this blue-suited maniac stand down.  
  
"Hn. You know your stuff kid, but you also know that public quirk use is illegal. As well as being an unregistered vigilante." Aizawa stated.  
  
There was a crunching sound, and Aizawa had to force himself to not blink in astonishment as he saw The Tick rip a chimney off the roof he was standing on and causally raise it to his shoulder. How could he do that without his quirk enhancing his strength?  
  
"Even better! Another hero! Stand aside, Aphid! I'm going to throw this chimney at hmm!" The Tick's last word was oddly muffled. Staring at the vigilante, Aizawa could see that his face was darkening for some reason, and a bulge was forming under his chin.  
  
"What? You can't do that!"  
  
"Hhmm hhm hmm," Tick paused, and removed his mask, to reveal that in under a minute, he had somehow grown a chest-length beard, a moustache that reached his shoulders, and enormous sagging eyebrows. How had that happened?  
  
"Awww, Aphid. So young, so naive. I remember when I was your age, just a little tickling before I supped on the life blood of RIGHTEOUSNESS! Anyway, it's common knowledge that whenever two heroes meet, the two must fight before reconciling their differences! And I am nothing, if not traditional! NOW! Prepare yourself, Pencil Cap! You face the mighty might of the TICK!" Aizawa ducked as the chimney flew at him, countering by flinging his scarf back. The scarf tangled itself in Tick's newly grown (and still rapidly growing) beard.  
  
"Now I see the reason behind the ninja grooming technique you have used against me, Pencil Cap! Do not think this will best me! This beard, unnaturally grown as it may be, is still the beard of THE TICK! And that means that it is a beard of righteousness! Of justice! It is MIGHTY, as am I! Now, it is time for us to enter the Cocoon of Adversity, so that we young caterpillars can grow into the Butterfly of Friendship! SPOOOOON!" With that, Tick grabbed his beard and gave it a hard yank. Aizawa was pulled off his feet and was dragged to his opponent. This was followed by the Tick leaping across the rooftops, dragging him along and slamming him into things along the way.  
  
Aizawa struggled to keep his eyes locked on his opponent through the pain, but it didn't do any good. The Tick simply didn't weaken. Finally, the Tick's sidekick caught up with them, using spring-heeled footgear to enable him to make the jumps between roofs safely.  
  
"Tick! Tick! You got to stop fighting Eraserhead!" Aphid said.  
  
"What? Why? I'm only using kid gloves. See, I'm just gonna give him a boop on the snoot! Just a little one! Boop!" With that, the vigilante in blue flicked a single finger into his face. His nose pulped under the force of the blow and he blacked out.  
  
When Aizawa woke up, he was lying on the sidewalk, with EMTs looking at him about to move him to an ambulance. Tangled up in his scarf was a mass of beard hair. He would later learn that The Tick had left his eyebrows and mustache on the roof where they had fought.  
  
As his bones knitted in the hospital, Aizawa thought over what happened in the fight and came to the conclusion that somehow, his quirk had made The Tick grow all that hair, which was why it fell off the moment he lost consciousness. But why? What kind of quirk causes rapid hair growth when turned off? And how could that allow someone to be as ridiculously powerful as The Tick?  
  
 **Dancing with Explosions By mayodomoGoliat**  
  
"Racoon Eyes!" Mina looked up from the pile she'd just been thrown to along Kirishima, and focused on Bakugou's very angry form. They'd just had their asses handed to them on the first round of the fight and been thrown aside by the more experienced fighter. Groggily standing up she noticed Bakugou was holding his phone and seemed to be messing with something before suddenly throwing it at her.  
"Yeah?!"  
  
"HOLD THIS!"  
  
Catching it she looked at it as a song was queued up on screen. She was only more confused as a spanish guitar began to play and Bakugou's form seemed to grow less tense as he began to carefully breathe in and out. She then noticed he was barefoot. Then the singing began.  
  
 _Ese amor llega asi de esta manera_  
 _No tiene la culpa_  
 _Caballo de danza vana_  
 _Porque es muy despreciado por eso_  
 _No te perdona llorar_  
  
Suddenly as the song grew he sprang into action at her uncle who reacted by trying to use his acid and punches. Mina's eyes widened as Bakugou casually sidestepped them in time with the music, ducking and weaving between the attacks and blows intended for him.  
  
 _Ese amor llega asi esta manera_  
 _No tiene la culpa_  
 _Amor de compra y venta_  
 _Amor de en el pasado_  
  
Suddenly her uncle overextended himself and Bakugou's eyes glinted dangerously as his hands and feet sparked with his quirk.  
  
 _Bem, bem bem bem, bem bem bem_  
  
Suddenly the explosive teen became a flurry of punches and kicks, each followed by an explosion, sending her uncle reeling back with each move, first punching at his upper body sending him back followed by a kick as his stomach. Over and Over.  
  
 _Bem, bem bem bem, bem bem bem_  
  
And over. The guitar's furious playing only accentuated his actions goading him on in his onslaught.  
  
 _Bamboleo bambolea_  
 _Porque mi vida yo la prefiero vivir así_  
  
Her uncle recovered and tried to regain control of the fight but Bakugou swiftly stepped back into ducking, weaving and sidestepping his attacks waiting for another opening, smilling his cocksure grin the entire time, a predatory glint in his eyes as he dodged her uncle's fist, hands and feet sparking.  
  
 _Bamboleo bambolea_  
 _Porque mi vida yo la prefiero vivir así_  
  
Explosions danced brightly in front of her eyes.  
  
 **MEEEEEP! By bissek**  
  
It had been years since that night. When the most dangerous patient ever to be locked in the psychiatric ward of the Minnesota Community Clinic escape. A nigh-invulnerable man with superhuman strength and the intelligence level of topsoil. A man known as the Tick. He had been there Tick had escaped, ripping free of his straightjacket and smashing through the reinforced glass separating his cell from the observation room. The madman had grabbed him by the forehead, lifted him off the ground with one hand, and then punched him in the nose before fleeing the building.  
  
The Tick had allegedly become a hero in the years since then, but the orderly remembered vicious madman who had assaulted him and left a trail of petty criminals who had been brutally rendered bald by a series of vicious noogies. The Tick was dangerous, and he had to be returned to the Doctor's care. The orderly had spent years in the Doctor's laboratory trying to make a net strong enough to hold the fugitive lunatic. And now he had it, and a lead on where the maniac had fled: Japan.  
  
Searching the skyline of the city where the Tick had last been seen, the orderly finally found his quarry, looking out onto the streets below. Slowly, carefully, the orderly creeped up on him, his net at the ready. Soon, he would have the Tick captured and shipped back to the asylum in Minnesota where he belonged. Tick's phone rang. The orderly took advantage of the distraction to close.  
  
"Ah, Gigantigirl! What news?" Tick asked. "You found another one? Where? I'll be there right away!"  
  
The orderly swung the net and brought it down on the lunatic's head. Tick didn't appear to notice. He immediately started to run with a vigorous call of "SPOOOOON!". Refusing to allow his prisoner to escape, the orderly tightened his grip on the net and dug his heels on the building's roof. It didn't help. He was quickly pulled along in the madman's wake. As Tick's running speed increased, the orderly found himself lifted above the ground, and soon was practically flying. Now he didn't dare let go for fear of flying off and crashing down to the street below. As he was carried along, the orderly gave out a cry of distress.  
  
"MEEEEEEEEP!"  
  
\--------------------------  
  
Kamui Woods and Mt Lady been exposed to the Tick's eccentricities before, but his current antic was a new one. The blue-clad vigilante had rushed into battle with a butterfly net on his head, along with the net's owner. The man holding onto the net had an oddly cylindrical head topped with a tuft of orange hair, and was dressed in a white lab coat. He was holding on to the net for dear life, as the Tick's constant motion dragged the poor man along with him, crying out odd panicked meeping noises as he crashed into various minions that Tick passed by. But despite all the abuse the poor man suffered while trying to keep from being thrown across the room by letting go of the net, his grip never slipped.  
  
Finally, the battle was over, and the two Pro Heroes walked over to the vigilante.  
  
"Who's the guy with the net, Tick?" Kamui asked.  
  
"Net? What net?" Tick wondered.  
  
"The net you've gotten stuck on your head." Mt Lady said. The two heroes untangled the net from Tick's antenna and helped the smaller man get free. Once he was safely down on the ground, the man clung to Mt Lady and started crying.  
  
"Mee Meep!" He sobbed. "Mee me mee Meep Meep!"  
  
"There, there, it's all right," she comforted him. "Tick's a bit odd, but he usually means well. I'm sure he didn't intend for you to get hurt."  
  
For some reason, that made the man step back, fury clearly visible on his face.  
  
"Meep eep?" He demanded, "Mee me meep! Meep! Me me meep!" With that, he grabbed the net and slammed it over Tick's head again and started trying to drag him away by the net. However, after all the abuse that it had suffered during the fight, the pole attached to the net had cracked, and now it snapped.  
  
The man looked at the broken pole and cast it to the ground. Then he started shaking his finger at Tick.  
  
"Mee me me mee meep. Mee me mee, mee mee meep! MEEP!"  
  
With that, the man stormed off.  
  
"What was that all about?" Kamui Woods wondered.  
  
 **Cooking with Quirks By bissek**  
  
It had started when Sato had won the informal competition for the best-decorated dorm room because he had bribed the girls with cake. Then Shoto had admitted that he was going to intern with Lunch Rush, because cookery could help him learn fine control over his temperature control quirk. Somehow this had escalated into a competition to see who was the best cook in the class.  
  
Sato had the clear edge in baking and sweets. Since his quirk centered around consuming sugar, he had lots of practice in producing things that fueled his powers. But that very fact meant that he had overspecialized. He rarely bothered preparing foods other than baked goods, and that hurt him overall.  
  
Shoto was more inexperienced in cooking in general, but his hot-and-cold quirk was useful in making food, not just eating it. Being able to caramelize sugar by waving a hand over it was a trick that most of the watchers found quite impressive. And using his quirk to keep dishes at the appropriate serving temperature until the moment everything was ready to lay out was quite useful.  
  
After a while, a voice called in.  
  
"What is this shitty technique?" Bakugo demanded, "Let me show you extras how to properly cook with a quirk!" With that, he stood up and headed out of the audience into the cooking arena.  
  
Izuku paled, and quickly turned to one of his classmates.  
  
"Yaoyorozu, can you make a blast shield? Quickly?" He hurriedly asked.  
  
"Why do you need one?" She asked.  
  
"Have you seen Kacchan cook before?" He asked. When she shook her head, he said "I have. This can get messy."  
  
Yaoyorozu thought about that for a moment, and then paled briefly as she hurriedly used her quirk to create cover for the audience.  
  
In the arena, Bakugo put on a pair of rubber gloves. Then he mixed a number of spices in a bowl. Grabbing a pair of tongs, he picked up a chunk of meat and placed it in the bowl, making sure to totally cover the meat. Then he put a skillet on the stove and laid the meat in it. After a few moments, the meat started to sizzle.  
  
"Okay you extras," Bakugo said as he stripped off the gloves. "This is how you sear the flavor of spices into a cut of meat. I give you, the Bakugo Blackened Beef!" With that, he flicked one hand over the skillet.  
  
A few drops of his explosive sweat flew from his hand into the pan. Upon touching the hot metal, it ignited, causing a small fireball to erupt in the skillet. Moments later, Bakugo placed a lid on the skillet, smothering the flames. When he was sure the fire was out, he removed the lid, picked up the meat with the tongs, and placed it on a plate.  
  
Izuku let out the breath he was holding. "At least he didn't blow up the stove this time."  
  
The other two chefs competing each cut a thin slice of the charred meat and tasted it.  
  
"Well, the flavor is seared in alright, but the meat is unevenly cooked," Shoto said. "It's well done at the edges, and practically raw in the center."  
  
Sato nodded. "When cooking, you need to make sure things are cooked through, and you can't do that with high temperatures for short periods of time. Doubling the temperature does not halve the cooking time. I would recommend only trying that trick on thinner cuts of meat. If the center isn't as far from the edge, then you don't have to worry about such things as much."  
  
As Bakugo seethed at the criticism, Shoto added another comment. "In addition, if you try that again, you might want to see about commissioning special cooking tools from the Support department." He held up the now cracked and warped skillet. "This skillet has had it."


	91. Issue 81

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue 81  
  
The Shi Hassaikai manor, the place where Kai Chisaki... Overhaul held his court was... lately, it had the feeling of being haunted, an uneasy feeling resting heavily in the air as everyone from the lowest of the low to the very Precepts of Death... people were looking over their shoulders, everyone was on their tippy toes, including Overhaul.  
  
The deal he made with the Terror was a deal with the Devil himself. Trigger, a drug that super powered a quirk to the point where it became near uncontrollable, made worse by how high it made the user. Now there was a new drug that the yakuza was moving. Quirk-9. Artificial quirk serums, near tailored made.  
  
Mined from the worst creature imaginable. The man with no face... a man with so many quirks that all they had to do was type in the computer to the machine the man was hooked up too and bam! Several dozen serums would soon roll out from the machine.  
  
Super strength. Singularities. Regeneration. A dozen different flames in a dozen different colors. The list went on and on and on...  
  
And worse... he could tell that it was hurting the man without a face, and the absolute glee that the Terror felt, watching his human resources writhe in agony each time they mined another dozen serums from him. This all fit into the Terror's philosophy. The weak fear and serve the strong. As long as Overhaul was strong, he had a place in the Terror's Organization.  
  
Speaking of which, the Terror felt that his... alliance... no... Suzerainty the Terror held over the Shi Hassaikai. Whatever independence Overhaul had was merely an illusion, granted to him by the Terror. He didn't have to pay any tithe to the Terror, but he wasn't able to do anything without the Terror's say so... or the Terror finding out... or the Terror congratulating him on his ingenuity and ambition.  
  
The fact that there was nothing that he could do without the Terror finding out, the knowledge that he was always being watched... it was nearly too much for the mobster to deal with. Still, his alliance with the League of Villains may be just what he needs to keep the Terror of his back.  
  
Speaking of which... he needed a bit more material for his Quirk Erasing rounds... just where was Eri hiding at...? A quick look and he found her in the yard.  
  
"Ah, Eri... there you are. Come with me. We have work to do." And something happen that had never happened before.  
  
"... no..." It was quiet, but there was a firmness behind it.  
  
"What did you say...?" Overhaul had never seen Eri act out like this. Run away? Sure. Try to escape, once or twice. Hide behind Rappa... well, it wasn't like he couldn't beat Rappa. She would cry and squirm, but she never said no.  
  
"I... I said no!" She replied, curtly. Sharply, and with a look in her eye that he couldn't quite place on Eri's face. Something he had never seen before from her. A look of pure, unadulterated hatred.  
  
"... no? Who do you think you are, Eri? To say no to me!?" Overhaul's voice was reaching a roar, as he let his anger get the best of his. How dare she!?  
  
"I'm... I'm the rat that got away! And... and I don't need to go with you!" She cried out, yet still took a step back., as Overhaul took a step forward, grabbed her by the front of her shirt and hoisted her into the air.  
  
"I don't care what you are, or what you think you are, Eri! But you will never say no to me again!" He saw her grab onto his wrist, as saw the horn on her forehead grow. He frowned behind his mask... and the little girl popped as his quirk was used. He sighed heavily, such a waste, before reconstituting the little girl.  
  
She was on the ground, she was crying, and for now... she was cowed. Whoever put that thought into her mind.. that she could be defiant. The rat that got away... a story the Terror promised to tell him... perhaps he told it to Eri to scare her, to frighten her, but all it seemed to do was embolden her.  
  
This... would not do.

* * *

Elsewhere, at the League of Villains hide out... Chairface Chippendale could only chortle as he read a local newspaper. The alliance that the League of Villains made with some of the Tick's most egregious villains included the likes of the Scarlet Tick, Barry Hubris! Ostensibly a hero, the man finally went too far and now found himself arrested.  
  
"Couldn't happen to a better man." The American gangster chided. Good riddance!  
  
"Celebrating the downfall of one of your allies, Chairface? That seems to fall under bad boss territory, doesn't it?" Tomura asked from his perch, handling a portable game console.  
  
"Tch! You didn't know Barry like I did! The man was a lunatic! Uncontrollable! The fact that it took him this long to have his license revoked and be captured as a villain is nothing short of miraculous!" He crumpled up the paper and tossed it aside. "This does lead to a singular problem, the League of Villains is whittling down with every passing day."  
  
"Does it bother you that much, Chairface?" Tomura asked. They had plans in the works. The Quirk Erasing bullets from Overhaul were just a start. They were reaching out their feelers to various sources, and finding what they could on how to best deal with the new Number 1 Hero's Hellfire quirk.  
  
They would armed and armored in such a way to leave Endeavor quirkless and crippled.  
  
"Honestly? No. But if you're to do what you need to do, too replace All for One as the shadow lord of Japan, we'll need more allies, not less." Was the American's reply.  
  
"You let me worry about that, Chairface." He had a sharp grin on his face. "Himiko Toga may be a psychopath, but she's been able to do something that will help us immensely."  
  
"And what has the crazy little girl managed to do, pray tell?"  
  
"Why... that would be spoilers, but let's just say that another breakout is going to happen at Tartarus." He finished his game, and got off his perch. "We'll have a full house in no time. We'll need an army to go after Endeavor, and an army he will find facing him."

* * *

There was never any doubt on who Tenya Iida was going to intern with. Honestly, his older brother Tensei was the only one to pull through for him during his dark times. Not that he didn't understand where the rest of his family was coming from, but just cutting him off in his time of need was not what he needed then.

Still, working alongside Tensei was... it felt good. Being a hero, even if only provisionally, felt good. Racing alongside his brother, as they patrolled.  
  
"So how are the dorms treating you, Tenya?" his brother asked as they patrolled together.  
  
"It's... cozy. I'm surrounded with friends, but..." He didn't know how to answer. How did one answer? In the course of several months he went to entering a spiral of depression and addiction and disaster only to claw his way out through the help of people that cared for him. "I don't know if I'm on the right path."  
  
"You're helping people, Tenya... you have all the makings of a great hero." He could hear his brother sigh as they continued their patrol. "A hero isn't judged by their power, by cases closed, or people saved. But by their heart! And you're heart is plenty big."  
  
Perhaps... the younger Iida had thought to himself, perhaps falling wasn't the worst thing that could possibly happen to him, since it only made him stronger.


	92. Issue 82

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue 82  
  
Weeks of training had lead up to this one moment! This was more important then the Entrance Exam, the Sport's Festival, even the Provisional License Exam! Katsuki Bakugo... was about to face the greatest challenge in his life! Having to face some alien regent from another world, a man who conquered worlds! But none of that mattered, he was nothing more then another step in his growing legend!  
  
He looked out the window, a determined look on his face. "I'm coming for you, you shitty bastard!" Yeah... that was the ticket. This was totally how a hero acted!  
  
Until a wrapping on the wall broke him out of his revelry.  
  
"It's like 5am on a Sunday! Some people are trying to sleep!"  
  
"Fuck off and die, you shitty grape!" And just like that, everything cool was ruined. Katsuki grumbled, and finished getting dressed. Today was still the day that he declared his own legend, and set himself on the path to be the number one hero!  
  
He found Eijiro and Mina already in the common room.  
  
"So we're really doing this?" Mina asked. She was nervous. She grew up hearing all the stories her father had of his brother. The various deeds he did, the legends that were whispered from one end of the galaxy to the other. By all means, if it wasn't for the fact that her uncle was evil and wished to burn across the galaxy in a new order of EVIL, he would probably be considered the greatest hero to ever exist in the known universe!  
  
"Why wouldn't we? You're uncle is a bastard! Worse then a bastard!" The whole reason he was worse then a bastard went unsaid, but it was obvious what it was.  
  
"Exactly! He'd keep you from me and Bakubro!" And then Eijiro had to go and say it. He can never let anything just remain unsaid. But on the other hand, Katsuki knew how he felt and knew how he would feel if Mina was to go away, especially dragged off by some usurper and thrown into a marriage she didn't want!  
  
"Yes... that..." Katsuki added, flatly. "What matters is that this is going to happen. He made the mistake of letting us name the time and place! We all have our licenses and today is that day we kick his ass off out planet!"  
  
"Hell yeah!" Eijiro was excited!  
  
"Go Bakusquad!" So was Mina!  
  
"So since today is a free day, I need the two of you to grab your costumes and meet up with me. We'll just tell Aizawa we're going on a day trip into town!"  
  
"But instead of going to like an arcade, we'll be going to find my evil uncle in the Industrial District! Plenty of space for us to cut loose!" It was decided. They were going to do this! Three heroes in training vs one of the greatest warriors in the entire galaxy. Katsuki shivered a bit. This was going to be absolutely amazing and he was looking forward to it!  
  
Which lead to the first step of the plan! First, they would stop by Midoriya's girlfriend's dorm room to pick up some of her high energy meal replacement bars. They needed to be light on their feet, but they needed a full breakfast at the same time. How hard could that be?  
  
"... can you run that by me again?" the pink haired inventor said, yawning. What was with it and people at this school? This was supposed to be the most elite academy in the entirety of Japan... nay, all of Asia! And everyone was acting just like they didn't have any classes on a Sunday that they didn't need to be in tip top form.  
  
"Those meal replacement bars I heard Midoriya and Fish Face talk about... we want some." Katsuki, ever the leader of the illustrious trio known only as the Bakusquad explained with alacrity. He may not have liked either of the two, especially Fish Face's flagrant disregard of the pecking order in class, but Katsuki would be a liar if his interest hadn't piqued.  
  
Especially if he could get a hand on them to replace his regular breakfast. He was... turned off from breakfast cereal and probably would be for a while.  
  
"... no." Was Mei's rather quick and rather flat reply.  
  
"... what do you mean no!?" Katsuki's reply was also rather quick, but also rather annoyed.  
  
"You heard me, I said no. I have no reason to help you." She crossed her arms over the pink pajamas she was wearing. "You spent three years being a great big jerk to Izuku, why should I even go out of my way to assist you?" It boggled Katsuki's mind that people would still be upset about it. Of course he was a little shit in middle school, but he was getting better with every day. And had apologized to Izuku already. Twice now.  
  
"Dammit, Crosseyes, we just need three of the damn bars!"  
  
"I have name, jerk." Mei said to Katsuki. The hair trigger temper on the ash blonde finally fired off and he put his hand on the door.  
  
"Does it matter!? Just go and give us the damn bars and you can go back to bed!"  
  
"Good bye, Bakugo." Was Mei's reply as she pressed a button on her watch and suddenly the door to her dorm room slammed shut.  
  
"Gerrgk." You could hear Katsuki's teeth grinding from three feet away.  
  
"... you... you okay, Katsuki?" Eijiro asked. Normally in this case, Katsuki would swearing up a storm and blowing something up.  
  
"... ... ... she slammed the door on my fingers..." Was Katsuki's quiet reply and true to fact, his fingers were still stuck in the door. That... had to hurt.  
  
Mina shook her head, looking at her two boys. "Obviously, what this needs is a gentle, feminine touch." She went over to the door and knocked on it gently. As soon as it was open, Katsuki managed to pull his hand free, as Mina chatted Mei up.  
  
"Hey, Hatsume... I know Katsuki can be a bit rough, but me and Eijiro would consider it a big personal favor if you could please let us have three of those breakfast bars. We're going out for the day and we need to stay light on our feet." She looked over her shoulder. "I promised Eijiro and Katsuki that I'd show them how to get the high score on a few dancing games and you know how boys can be when they're going to see a cute girl show them her moves."  
  
"... so he's being a rude jerk because he wants to ogle you on a dance pad?" Mei inquired.  
  
"... uh..." Really, that whole explanation sounded better in the acid user's head.  
  
"Fine. Only because you're both friendly with Izuku..." The door opened and Mina had three wrapped bars of... well, they were supposed to be high density energy breakfast bars. "Izuku helped me develop those, so at the moment, they're more suited to his tastes."  
  
"Thanks, Hatsume!" Mina replied, as she took the bars from the pinkette! "We'll owe you one!"  
  
"If you really want to thank me? Work harder at making Bakugo nice... that might be the biggest favor anyone could do for the whole school. And with that... I head back to bed." And true to what she said, she closed the door again.  
  
Mina turned to look at Katsuki and beamed. "Honey..." She pointed to herself. "Vinegar." She pointed to Katsuki.  
  
"Yuck it up, Mina... we got an ass to whip!" Katsuki, ever true to himself, replied.  
  
Sneaking off the UA campus, however, seemed almost too easy. The hike from Alliance Heights to the Front Gate... they weren't accosted by anyone... no one bothered to ask about their bags.  
  
"Suited to his tastes?" Mina said, as she finally finished her bar. "This is one of the worst thing I ever tasted..." She tossed her wrapper in a bin.  
  
"I don't know. It was fatty, a little sweet, and meaty! Hatsume could make a killing selling these to manly men like me..." He pounded a fist against his chest, puffing himself up a little bit.  
  
"Meh. It was a little bland." Katsuki said, as they finally, finally, finally reached the gates!  
  
"Going somewhere, children?" And there waiting... was Mister Principal.  
  
"I... Principal Nedzu..." Katsuki didn't know where to start, where to begin!  
  
"Errr... you see..." Eijiro was also stumbling. And Mina? Mina was just quiet...  
  
"Ah, I see... the three of you out on the town? Making some use of your free time?" The Principal asked.  
  
"We... were... going to the arcade in town..." Katsuki said, swallowing hard. He had to tip toe around very very very carefully. One slip up and they were done for and who knows what would happen with Mina's uncle!?  
  
"Oh?" The principal asked. "And that requires you packing an overnight bag why...?"  
  
The three looked at each other, then back to the principal, then back to each other. The Principal was a hard read, not being human and all.  
  
"Because... because we plan on going to Dagoba Beach and we brought a change of clothes... just in case." Eijiro salvaged the situation and quick. The Principal was looking at the three of them. And then shrugged.  
  
"Well, far be it from me to stop you for enjoying your day off." He stepped aside to let the the trio leave.  
  
They could hear the gate closing. They were in the clear.  
  
"Oh! Before I forget!" They turned around to see the Principal, as the gate was closing. "Be sure to give Miss Ashido's uncle a good thrashing!"  
  
The gate closed with a hollow sound.  
  
"Did... did that just happen?" Eijiro asked, as they started to walk away.  
  
"I think... I think the principal just gave us permission..." Mina agreed. "Like when we went to go help rescue Katsuki from his kidnappers."  
  
"Can we not talk about that?"  
  
"Sorry, Bakubro... let's... let's take the principal's blessing and uh... go beat up Mina's uncle." Eijiro said, still shocked by the principal letting them go. What did the principal know and not know? But... did it really matter? They had an asshole to fight.  
  
Finding the location was easy enough. The Mustafu industrial district like any good town was filled with aged, decrepit warehouses and factories, perfect for would be vigilantes to train their quirks or for villains to hide out and plot their evil schemes. But they were not vigilantes, not on this day as they slipped into their costumes. They may have only had provisional licenses, but they were doing this right!  
  
As they entered the darkened building, they could hear the sound of clapping as a light switched on, illuminating Mina's uncle and his honor guard.  
  
"So you actually came? Well, well, well Mina... you certainly picked your consorts well. But no matter!" He swept both of his arms out. "I hope you're ready, heroes!" He leapt from the catwalk onto the ground, a perfect three point landing.  
  
"WELCOME TO DIE!" His voice echoed through the building, rumbling the windows as his dark, hollow laugh filled their ears!  
**  
<\--- To Be Continued!**


	93. Issue 83

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Issue 83  
  
Every time he broke a rule, Izuku couldn't help but think it was a mass betrayal of the school, his ideals, the fact that he was All Might's chosen successor. But... he was more then just a hero in training, he was a vigilante fighting along side one of the most courageous heroes in the entire world! Who could face down a villain like All for One just as easily as he could the Symbol of Heroism.  
  
But he did feel bad. The school had it's rules to protect the students, especially after Katsuki's kidnapping and the disaster that was the training camp over the summer. But not only that, only a few of his friends were into the whole vigilante thing, as well. Or at least into it as far as he was, not that he was judging them.  
  
And then there was the Rabbit Hero, Mirko, who he was interning with. She knew a lot about him already and probably the only complaint she'd have about him going out after hours to beat up criminals was that she wasn't invited. But he couldn't, this was something that he and the Tick had to deal with, with Sir Nighteye and Lemirrion.  
  
The Shie Hassaikai branch of the Yakuza were working with the Terror to distribute Trigger. What nefarious reasons, no one knew, but Izuku knew that they had to be stopped. That this had to be stopped! Which is why Izuku Midoriya, the Aphid, was currently perched on a rooftop observing the Shie Hassaikai headquarters through a pair of binoculars.  
  
"It's really impressive, isn't it?" A speaker was suddenly next to him, and in his intensity Izuku let out a small yelp, and almost lost the grip on his binoculars, juggling the equipment before finally catching it in his hands.  
  
"Togata!" He exclaimed, as he finally calmed down. "Don't sneak up on me like that!"  
  
"Sorry, Midoriya." The upperclassman apologized, joining Izuku on the perch. "Still, there's something going on in there that I don't like. One of those Shie Hassaikai goons... I bumped into one the other day and there was this scared little girl with them and..."  
  
"You want to save her?"  
  
"It's more then just that, Midoriya! Why would they have a little girl? The way she was scared... the way she was treated... she wasn't a relative of a member, she was a prisoner. She only had enough time to tell me her name as Eri before she was pulled away from me. But why? Why would they have her in there?" Mirio was beside himself, still looking towards the manor.  
  
"Don't worry, Togata... we'll save her."  
  
"Yes... yes we will."  
  
The silence between the two junior heroes hung in the air, before they were called by Sir Nighteye.  
  
"Boys! You ready for this? This is going to be very, very dangerous." That almost seemed unnecessary to say, but the Foresight Hero wanted to be clear to the two heroes in training.  
  
"We only know the barest about the inhabitants of the manor. The leader of the Shie Hassaikai is a man known as Overhaul, delegating to his lieutenants, the Eight Precepts of Death."  
  
"What do we know about Overhaul and the Eight Precepts, sir?" Izuku asked. This was intense. Quite possibly one of the most intense things Izuku had participated in since the Horror in Kamino Ward.  
  
"Not much. Not even their quirk, all we know is that the Shie Hassaikai wear masks not unlike medieval European Plague Doctors. I think it's a psychological thing, to scare their..." Nighteye tailed off, looking at Mirio and Izuku. "Where's the Tick?"  
  
They all had the same idea at the same time, rushing over to the edge of the roof and saw the Big Blue Bug of Justice running towards the Shie Hassaikai manor!  
  
"OVERHAUL, YOU MONSTER!" The Tick exclaimed, as he ran head long through the gate, passing through it like a hot knife through butter. "Your WINTER OF CRIME is about to have it's SPRING OF JUSTICE!"  
  
The door to the Shie Hassaikai Manor, designed to resist a pneumatic battering ram for up to 10 minutes provided no defense to the mighty strength of the Mighty Tick! Alarms were sounding, as the other three heroes stood on the roof. Sir Nighteye was frowning.  
  
"... I honestly did not see that coming."  
  
"You learn to expect the unexpected when it comes to the Tick." Izuku said, before leaping off the ledge to follow the Wild Blue Yonder into the manor. He had to find the Tick, with his brains and the Tick's brawn, they can stop Overhaul while Mirio and Nighteye rescue the little girl that Mirio had run into!  
  
As to be expected, he found the Tick laughing raucously, as the mooks and goons of the Shie Hassaikai were ineffectively firing their weapons and quirks at the Tick, who in fashion true to his abilities, laughed it off like one would a toddler's tantrum.  
  
"C'mon, boys, you gotta do better then that!" The Tick exclaimed, as a sweep of his arm sent five of the goons flying. "Oh, hey chum! Sorry about that, I just got the party started early is all! These guys are bad news!"  
  
"They are criminals." Izuku admitted, as he barreled through one of them, shoulder checking him. He actually missed fighting a bunch of goons with the Tick. Patrolling with Mirko, while enjoyable, just wasn't the same. Between the two of them, they had cleared the foyer of the Manor when Nighteye and Mirio had arrived.  
  
"Are you an idiot?" The Foresight hero asked the Tick. "You just jeopardized this operation! This was only intelligence gathering for a raid at a later date!"  
  
"You seem upset, friend! Perhaps, once we cleared these nasty ne'er-do-wells, we should talk about this! But now... JUSTICE WAITS FOR NO MAN!"  
  
And no sooner had the Tick exclaimed that, did a wall explode out behind them. Out stepped a large man, thick with muscle, wearing a black plague doctor's mask. He cracked his neck and his knuckles, incased in a pair of brass knuckles. Anything he was about to say was quickly written off as the Tick charged into combat! Starting to trade blows with the large gangster.  
This was the opening needed for Mirio, Izuku, and Nighteye to delve deeper into the Shie Hassaikai manor.  
  
"Maybe we can use this our advantage. If the rest of the Eight Precepts decide to go and face the Tick... we might be able to bring down the entire organization in one night." Nighteye was still beside himself, but he needed to go and turn lemons into lemonade. Perhaps with the Tick... he didn't need to gather up heroes to lead a raid!  
  
Perhaps he spoke to soon about the Tick gathering the rest of the Eight Precepts, as no sooner he said so... a barrier parted between Nighteye and the two heroes in training, cutting the hero off from the two students. Izuku looked to Mirio, letting the Upperclassman make the decision.  
  
"We're going to find Eri." The young man stated, turning to head deeper into the manor. Sir Nighteye could handle these punks, same as the Tick. Izuku followed after him.  
  
"Should we abandon Nighteye like that?" He asked the older teen.  
  
"Sir can take care of himself. And he has contingencies for his contingencies. I have no doubt he doesn't have a plan for this." Mirio replied.  
  
"He didn't have a plan for the Tick..."  
  
"... touche."  
  
However, finding a single person in a manor as large as the one that Shie Hassaikai operated in was easier said then done. It was a winding maze and it was filled with many a nameless, rank and file yakuza goons, armed with chains and bats and swords and guns. Mirio and Izuku were both heroes in training, and both were tutored by some of the greatest heroes of the current generation.  
  
That wasn't to say that they were capable of barrelling through the numbers, though. Mirio, like he was when he faced all of Class 1-A, was more then capable of fighting against far superior numbers. Izuku was a goonsweeper himself, but wasn't at the same level as the Tick, but found that cocoon held against the weapons the goons were brining against them.  
  
As they finished another grouping of Yakuza nobodies, they found that the fighting was taking a toll on their costumes, leaving them scratched up and torn from the amount of fighting they were participating in!  
  
But that only encouraged the blond upperclassman. That they were in the right direction. That they must have been important to the leader of the Shie Hassaikai to have them protected in such a manner.

* * *

Elsewhere, the Tick was having the time of his life, trading blows with Rappa. "Ahahahahaha! This is the best day of my life! It's not often that I get a sparring partner ready and willing to go mano a mano with the MIGHTY TICK!"  
  
Rappa, for his part grit his teeth. His quirk should have let him pulverize this big blue idiot into paste, but he got the feeling that the Tick was playing with him, in a much different manner then Overhaul did. The Tick meeting him, literally blow for blow, the room filled with the thundering cracks!  
  
Still, the gangster couldn't help but find himself grinning. This was a fight unlike any other and he was going to enjoy himself!  
  
Up until he got kicked in the side and sent flying back.  
  
"Damn it, Tick... you went and had a party without me!?" One of Sir Nighteye's reinforcements, the same ones he called as soon as he was separated from Izuku and Mirio had arrived. The Rabbit Hero, Mirko!  
  
"Wasn't my party to hand out the invites, friend! I'll be sure to talk with Commander Specs about that." The Tick bantered with the newly arrived hero, only to turn to see as Rappa got up at of the wall.  
  
"Two for the price of one? Fantastic!" And he charged both heroes! This was truly what he lived for!

* * *

Sir Nighteye was not having the time of his life. He was an investigator, sure. And he didn't do a flashy costume, but as soon as he was cut off from the two heroes in training after this... disaster of an impromptu raid, he made sure to signal for help to arrive.  
  
Contingencies for contingencies. They never lead him wrong before, and he doubted they would now. Still, he was dealing with a man who's quirk allowed him to set up barriers and yet another with the ability to get stronger by draining other people.  
  
It showed just what a dog eat dog world the Shie Hassaikai were as Nighteye noticed that the big one kept draining the Yakuza goon. Bad boss didn't even big to deal with it, but Nighteye wasn't worried. Worrying is what people that couldn't see the future did, and while he may not be able to do it all the time, he was more then capable of planning ahead.  
  
He made not that the one kept getting bigger, every time he got stronger and if he was right...  
  
A large purple fist crashed through the ceiling.  
  
Right one time, as Mount Lady made her appearance to assist with this impromptu raid.  
  
And to think that people thought his ability to plan down to the very second as unnecessary to being a hero.

* * *

Izuku and Mirio, battered but not beaten, finally came upon it... a toddler's bedroom and sitting there in the middle... was a six year old girl with long white hair. She let out a squeak when she saw Izuku, but she also saw Mirio and she smiled.  
  
"Miri! You came!" She actually ran over to the young man and hugged him! "I knew you would! I just knew it!"  
  
"It's alright, Eri. I told you I'd rescue you, didn't I?" Mirio said, as he hugged Eri back.  
  
"Who... who's your friend?" Eri asked, looking at Izuku.  
  
"Uh... I'm Aphid." Was Izuku's quick response. The little girl's face lit up.  
  
"Oh! Like with the Tick!?"  
  
"Yeah, like with the Tick." They could do this, they could rescue Eri and take down the Yakuza, once and for all and when they turned to leave... they saw him standing there. Overhaul, leader of the Shie Hassaikai.  
  
"That's it? This is an insult. Only two children?" The man replied. Of course, Mirio didn't say anything and only sank into the floor, only to reappear next to Overhaul and walloping him good!  
  
The man didn't expect a teenager to be that strong, nor did he seem to expect himself to be thrown directly through the wall and into the hallway!  
  
"C'mon, Eri... we're getting you out of here." Izuku said, as he scooped the girl into her arms, there were tears in her eyes.  
  
"He's..." She spoke up. "He's not going to hurt me any more?" And with those words, Izuku's heart shattered. No child needed to ask that, ever.  
  
"No. Not anymore. Just... just close your eyes, Eri? Can you do that for me?"  
  
He did not in fact miss the irony of him echoing his own father's words from over a decade ago, his focus was however resting solely on the fact that Mirio in a fit of rage followed Overhaul through the hole he had made.  
  
Izuku had two choices. Try to make an escape... or he could support his friend. he chose the latter as he followed him through the hole.  
  
"You need to warn Miri! Mister Overhaul... he..." She was crying, tears leaking through her eyelids. "He has... he can erase quirks." Izuku blinked, as he heard the soft voice the girl.  
  
"H-how?"  
  
"With... with a gun."  
  
"Thank you, Eri." He did have to warn Mirio... a quirk erasing gun? That was... how could such a thing come to pass? He came upon Mirio, who was holding his own against the adult criminal. He really was the closest to being the number one, it was awe inspiring.  
  
Overhaul was crafty and he was clever, and he kept himself guarded, but Mirio's ability to phase was used to full effect, ducking and dodging and only to appear to give a good punch when it was needed. It was like a well choreographed fight.  
  
But then Overhaul had to go and cheat and as soon as Mirio sank one last time into the ground, he touched it and it seemed to explode away, disintegrating the area and causing Mirio to lose control of his quirk for just a moment, enough to pop him out of the ground and into a wall, head first.  
  
A gash on his forehead soon sent blood into the blond man's eyes, as he blurrily looked around for his opponent!  
  
"You are an insolent child!" Overhaul said, and Izuku saw him draw a gun... the same gun that Eri mentioned. It had to be, it was the only thing that made any sense right now! He had to do something, but he couldn't out run a bullet, he couldn't reach him in time as he reached out to the blond, his friend and colleague.  
  
The trigger pulled... the hammer fell... the bang was made...  
  
And something pulled Mirio away... a shadowy black whip wrapped around him leading all way back to Izuku. The green haired young man looked at the whip... as all eyes in the room were on him. He set Eri down...  
  
"Keep your eyes closed." he told her, as the shadowy whip cracked and he could feel agony in his arm. Not since the entrance exam had he felt pain like this, like his bones were splintering apart like dry wood, only to be held together by the sheer force of his Cocoon and the black shadowy whip leading from his wrist. He approached Overhaul, who fired upon him and the whip snapped, sending the bullet flying into the wall.  
  
Again.  
  
Again.  
  
Again.  
  
Whatever happened with One for All, it was syncing with his Tension, his hyper tuned senses allowing him to follow the path of the bullet and strike it from the air! Until the last bullet fired, wrapped around it and fired it back at Overhaul, striking the man in the shoulder.  
  
The look of surprise on the face of the man was near priceless, as Izuku was upon him, grabbing him by his shirt... and struck him.  
  
Once.  
  
Twice.  
  
Three times, sending him crashing into the ceiling, then into the wall... a heavy support beam falling on top of him. He was filled with so much anger at one man. This wasn't like dealing with Muscular, who reveled in his murder. This wasn't Jacknife, a spree killer that did what he want when he wanted too. You couldn't hate those monsters any more then you could hate any other force of nature.  
  
But to be as calculating as Overhaul, as evil as he was... there was a certain amount of catharsis in laying him low. He was doing for Eri what Kota's parents tried to do... what his father tried to do. Protecting an innocent child.  
  
He was only stopped when Mirio put a hand on his shoulder.  
  
"Izuku... let's go. He's not worth it." The upperclassman said. Izuku... agreed. As good as it would feel, he wasn't a killer.  
  
"Get back here!" Overhaul roared from where he was pinned. "GET BACK HERE AND FINISH ME OFF, COWARDS!"  
  
They left him where he was, as they went to check in on the heroes they came with. And none too soon, as the fights happening in the manor were more then the building could take, as the upper levels started to collapse on the lower levels, making it nearly impossible to reach Overhaul until specialized teams could arrive.  
  
The Tick, looked none the worse for wear.  
  
Sir Nighteye was sitting on the bumper of an ambulance, getting his side tended to by an EMT. There were a few other heroes, and Izuku saw Mirko and she saw him and he knew his next day with her was going to be awful, but he did it.  
  
He saved a little girl.  
  
That's all that mattered.  
  
Of course, he ended up breaking his left arm in the process, but at the same time... that black whip felt... significant. Something else to talk to All Might about. After he got it taken care of, course.

* * *

Back in the ruins of the manner... all was not going well.  
  
He was laying in the rubble of his manner, even as his hopes and dreams crumbled around him. He could still feel the burn of the bullet in his shoulder, and the void where his quirk used to be. Those... children had taken everything from him. His quirk. His goals. There was no way that the yakuza would ever be able to return with him as their lead.  
  
The only thing they couldn't do was take his life! Cowards, the both of them!  
  
The Eight Expendables... defeated and expended and scattered to the absolute winds. Eri... taken from him and save for the 20 rounds of ammunition that the League of Villains had purchased, there were no more quirk erasing bullets. He was truly, utterly defeated and there was nothing he can do about it.  
  
"Quite the predicament that you're in, Mister Overhaul!" And with that voice, that haggard voice calling out to him, he wouldn't even be able to face death with dignity, as the Terror approached him. He just glared at the first super villain, with his cold, hateful eyes. "Nothing to say, that's alright."  
  
The old man sat next down to Overhaul, the yakuza boss under an I-Beam and no way to lift it.  
  
"Hell of a thing that happened, huh? That boy is just so damn angry, ain't he? Damn near beat you to death!" He shook his head and reached into his coat and pulled out a syringe. "But it seems that we have a unique opportunity here."  
  
"... what the hell is that..." Overhaul... Kai Chisaki finally managed to ask.  
  
"You know how I call my artificial quirk serums Quirk-9? You may as well call this Quirk-90! A mix of specially picked quirks, mixed with a damn near lethal dose of Trigger!" His grin was filled with dirty yellow gold teeth, the shape of tombstones and quick as he liked, he jammed the needle into Overhaul and pressed the plunger in. "You know those monsters that attacked Hosu earlier this year? The... Nomu? You're about to get very intimate with them, if I'm right." He slapped a hand against Kai's face before walking off.  
  
The former Yakuza crime lord looked over at the needle still stuck in his shoulder... and the way his veins were turning black... the flesh on his arm began to pulsate. He let out a scream of agony... only drowned out by the Terror's laughter!  
  
**< \--- To Be Continued!**


	94. Annual 7

The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA! Annual 7  
  
Mina's Evil Uncle didn't give the three members of the Bakusquad much of a chance before he leapt into the fray! It showed that he came from a planet with higher gravity, as his muscular bulk crashed into the concrete floor, shattering it! The only think Katsuki wanted to do was whipe that smirk off that bastard's big, fat face!  
  
And he would've, too, had the bastard not just... posed and the pure strength and purpose behind it sent the three teenage super hero trainees flying away like a bunch of leaves!  
  
"You call this a fight!? HA!" The monstrous man stated, laughing heartily! "No, this is a bad comedy!"  
  
And with a snap of his fingers, the man's honor guard joined the fray! Three on one became six on three! More then that, they were armed, as well. This was not what the three trainees were expecting! Then again, it would have been foolish to say that this was always going to be a fair fight.  
  
"Don't worry about the small fries! We go for the head!" Katsuki told the other two, as he blasted himself back into the fray. He wasn't going to be defeated by any alien would be galactic conqueror, no matter what his abilities were!  
  
Alas, his claim of ignoring the small fries didn't work out too well as he was swatted out of the air by one of the guards. He skidded along the ground, bouncing once. They were all a lot stronger then he would have given them credit for.  
  
He scrambled back to his feet, Mina and Eijiro on either side of him.  
  
"I think we need a new plan, Bakubro!" Eijiro said to the ash blond, taking up a defensive stance, his quirk working in overdrive.  
  
"A new plan? What's wrong with winning?!"  
  
"Because it's not working, Katsuki!" Mina's admonition to the explosive blond! But the moment of bickering, as Eijiro did his level best to be peace keeper... was all that her evil uncle needed to charge and attack!  
  
It was a blow far mightier then any of the three expected from someone that wasn't All Might or the Tick, and impacted like a bomb! Dust and debris were kicked up in the air and when it settled...  
  
"WHAT!?" The alien conqueror exclaimed in a mix of rage and confusion, as blocking his fist was none other then Eijiro Kirishima, his quirk on overdrive as the mighty fist pressed continuously against his crossed arms. The faux redhead was smirking.  
  
"You must not know, huh? Quirks... can evolve and it looks like that's what had happened to mind! I can you can say I'm... heh... Red Riot Unbreakable!" In this very moment, at this very point of his life, Eijiro Kirishima never looked more awesome or cool or absolutely manly!  
  
Even Katsuki was taken back by the sheer presence roiling off the Harden quirk user!  
  
It was, unfortunately broken when Mina's uncle grabbed him by the shoulders, roared in his face, spun around in place, and threw Eijiro away. Katsuki watched as the young man crashed through the ceiling. He had to think smart... and that was when the idea struck him as she grabbed a-hold of Mina, hoisting her up on his shoulder and then he took off.  
  
"MINA! IF YOU RUN I WILL CHASE YOU!" Was the cry behind them as Katsuki blasted his way out of the warehouse.  
  
"We're not running away!" Katsuki stated, defending himself. "We're a team and we fight together, so we're regrouping with Eijiro at the new fight location."  
  
"... no complaints here!"  
  
Following Eijiro wasn't difficult, as it was easy enough for someone as smart as Katsuki to predict where the young man would land, and just wouldn't he know it, but they found the faux redhead at Dagobah beach, digging himself out of a sand dune. He looked over Mina and Katsuki.  
  
"Did we win?" He asked, in a daze.  
  
"No, no we did not." Katsuki grumbled. "But we're a team, we'll win together!"  
  
"I suppose that makes sense, but... I'm actually quite excited! I think my quirk evolved!" Eijiro was still smiling, it was almost endearing.  
  
"Evolved or not, it didn't do much for you when he picked you up and threw you around like a rag doll!" Katsuki needed to do a different plan. They were outnumbered and over powered. That wasn't so bad, they had to deal with way worse!  
  
Besides, there was nothing that could happen right now that would make it any more bad then it already was!  
  
"Oh! Well if it isn't Kaachan and the Bakugos!" And he spoke too soon, as he turned to see the speaker.  
  
Camie Utsushimi, because why wouldn't the Universe decide to throw more shade at him then it already has!  
  
"... why are you wearing that dumb hat, Camie!" Katsuki finally asked, looking over the Second Year Shiketsu High student. True, she was wearing the traditional Shiketsu High uniform hat, but was also dressed in a swimsuit. It was still rather warm and Dagobah Beach was clean and pristine and while not crowded, she wasn't exactly alone in making use of a warm, sunny weekend.  
  
"Awww, Kaachan... all Shiketsu Students have to rep their hats when out and about! It's totally fash!" She looked over the other three heroes in training. "Speaking of... what's with your own costumes? That's totally fetch that UA lets you run 'round with your costumes like that."  
  
"No, they don't jusut let us run around with our costumes on! We're actually doing something rather important, Cami! That doesn't need to include you!" The two continued their back and forth.  
  
"You know... it's weird that Katsuki is using her first name, isn't it?" Eijiro whispered conspiratorially to Mina.  
  
"That's a sure sign that he likes her. Good taste, all around." Mina whispered back. Eijiro... wasn't quite sure how to reply to that, especially with the Bakusquad having just figured what they were all about. Three was company, as they said, and four was a crowd. But...!  
  
The red head's thoughts were interrupted by Mina's uncle showing up to the beach with his bodyguards in tow.  
  
"Do we need to continue to this FARCE!?" The man's voice was raised by volumes, a challenge to all that would dare defy him! It was enough to let the few civilians on the beach to scatter, screaming all the while!  
  
"Who's the swoley ghost there, Kaachan?" Camie asked the explosive, red eyed blond. Oh, right, they were in the middle of a huge fight with an intergalactic conqueror and now he had to deal with... Katsuki found his hands in his hair and if this kept going on he was going to be bald before graduation!  
  
As the three members of the Bakusquad got ready to make battle once more, it was with an eye of confusion, as they watched Mina's uncle and his bodyguards start attacking a blank patch of beach...  
  
The three looked around in confusion, then saw Camie, a wisp of smoke leaving her mouth.  
  
"That your doing?" Katsuki asked and got a smile in reply.  
  
"Awwww, I can't get one over you, can I, fampai?" ... he felt a headache starting to come around, but... this was something he could use.  
  
"Alright, you want to help, Camie?" He held up a hand at Mina's protesting yelp.  
  
"Well, I'd totally be up for it, but like... isn't that kinda illegal?" She put a finger to her chin, tapped it once or twice. "I'm like totally convinced, anyway!"  
  
She smiled once before grabbing her bag. "Just, like, gimme a sec!" And she hurried off to one of the changing tents, as the alien invaders kept up dealing with the illusions! Katsuki, for his part, had no idea what was going on and followed after her.  
  
"What the hell are you doing!?" He damn near shouted into the tent! He wasn't going to dare enter it himself, but he needed to know, had to know!  
  
In response, the swimsuit that Camie was wearing was thrown out the tent and slapped him in the face! And then... out came Camie, dressed in the same costume she was wearing the same costume she wore during the Preliminary Exams.  
  
"... do you go everywhere with your costume like that, Camie?" Katsuki finally asked, only slightly distracted as the brunette finished settling the zipper of her costume.  
  
"Totes! Don't you, Kaachan?" No, no he did not! It didn't matter, they were doing this, so he couldn't afford to be distracted by the new provisional member of the Bakusquad. "So who're we fighting?"  
  
Katsuki didn't want to go and explain what was actually happening, that Mina was an alien princess from outer space and that her uncle, an evil intergalactic conqueror from beyond the reach of Sol's light was out to kidnap Mina so he could secure his grasp on whatever galactic star empire he stole from Mina's father.  
  
In retrospect, it was true, but if he told her that, she'd look at him like he was crazy.  
  
"Really? That is like so totally fetch, Mina!" ... ... ... he looked around and saw Mina and Eijiro talking to Camie.  
  
"Mina... what did you just tell her...?"  
  
"... it didn't seem fair to lie to her after she agreed to help us." Mark that as one more who knows Mina's secret origins. Fine. Didn't matter, between the four of them they might have the fire power needed to defeat Mina's evil uncle! And he had a few tricks of his sleeve if needed!  
  
And with that said, the illusions dissipated, and the four charged into the fray! Between Mina's acid, Eijiro's hardening, and Camie's illusions... it was enough to let Katsuki focus on the big man himself!  
  
"You're putting a lot of effort to defend Mina, boy!" The man said, as he squared off against Katsuki. "If I didn't know any better, seems like someone is trying to make a prince out of himself!"  
  
"I know what you're trying to do and it ain't gonna work, bastard!" Katsuki had to keep his head clear. "Mina's my friend, it doesn't matter that she's a princess or whatever. She could've been a pauper and I would have stood up for her!"  
  
The man grunted, and a sweep of his hand and the concrete hard acid defended against the explosive blond.  
  
"It's going to take more then a few tricks to defeat me, boy! Pitiful, pathetic explosions!" Katsuki really really really hated when people put him down, sold him short, said he wasn't capable of doing whatever he set his mind out too it!  
  
He was Katsuki Bakugo, and he wasn't going to let anyone tell him what he was or was not capable of! And he was capable of saving Mina and Eijiro and... yes, even Camie if need be! He wanted to stop with pitiful tricks, then he'd give it right to him!  
  
His AP Shot was originally designed to work with his off hand forming a circle on his palm. But he needed something a little less clumsy, a bit more smooth. So he had the nerds in support, the same one that made his grenade gauntlets, to make an aperture in the palms of his gloves.  
  
Different Application, Same Outcome! Instead of a burst explosion, a powerful shot that nothing could stand in it's way! And then... when the smoke cleared... the hardened acid was barely scratched.  
  
Of course, Mina's uncle would be stronger then Mina was. And that was when the fist came bursting through the wall, striking the blonde.  
  
"You're about a hundred years to early to defeat me, boy." The man said, as he calmly approached the blond. "You don't have the power to stop me and save your friend. So take this as a sharp lesson. You can't save everyone, hero!"  
  
"You know what!?" He reached up his arm, the pin for the grenade ready to be pulled. He could pull this off, perhaps! Just what was needed, his ultimate attack! "FUCK YOU TOO!"  
  
And he pulled the pin! However, the aperture in the palm of his glove was just barely open. Instead of an explosion that he thought would be enough to finish this fight, what he got instead of an explosive laser, tightly focused at a single point! But with so much sweat being force through, it turned more into a ridiculously over powered laser blast!  
  
It chewed its way through the hardened acid that the usurper used to defend himself, chewed up sand into glass, and then it happened... it hit the man and that was too much, launching the man with the full force of the explosion up and up and up some more!  
  
They did it... they had won!? With their employer in need of rescue, the bodyguards broke from their fight with the others to do just that, teleporting to their vessel.  
  
"Haha! We did it, Eijiro!" Mina exclaimed, hugging her redheaded friend! Katsuki looked over to Camie, then sighed.  
  
"Do you want a hug too?"  
  
"Can I?"  
  
"I guess..." Katsuki sighed, before finding the second year Shiketsu student doing just that. This wasn't so bad.  
  
Until he found Eijiro and Mina hugging him as well.  
  
"One big Bakusquad, eh?" Eijiro said. "Even if Camie is a new comer."  
  
Fine, he could accept that.  
  
"Besides, princess consorts are totally a thing!" And with Mina's last comment... Katsuki's brain fritzed out like he was Denki Kaminari.


End file.
